Crazy Days
by Anotherjaneway
Summary: Think you've had a bad day? Just wait until you find out what happened to the gang of Station 51 and Rampart.


This is a text version of the original still airing imaged, music soundtracked story.

Emergency Theater Live, Episode Seven

7. Crazy Days Season One- Episode 7 Short summary-  
Think you've had a bad day? Just wait until you find out what happened to the gang of Station 51 and Rampart.

****WARNING**** The long summary to come is very story spoiling and will take away plot surprises if you read it now before reading the longer story below it.

Decide now if you want to read this episode's detailed summary before doing so.

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Long Summary-  
Dixie goes on the warpath looking for fresh coffee to grind for her empty pot at Rampart. Chet Kelly gets the third degree for gloating over Marco's lost bet penalty of hanging hose in the backyard tower.  
The gang answers an unknown rescue at the zoo, only to find no visitors,  
and a crazed drug overdosed employee releasing all the animals from their cages. Chet begins acting normally during lunch at the station,  
driving Gage batty. Brackett offers to get Dixie some coffee and leaves Rampart. Charlie the fire department mechanic finds out that he's got heart disease and is forced to retire from the vehicle shop. The gang answers a strange call at the La Brea Tar Pits, and Brackett assists them. Vince finds java for Dixie and a museum rewards the gang with fossil bones. Roy learns the horror of a roof fire at his own house.  
Henry, Boot, and Bonnie, all have a pillow feather fight in the bunk room.

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The Story Unfolds...

Season One, Episode Seven..

Crazy Days Debut Launch: 15 April 2003.

*  
From: Jeff Seltun Date: Sat Apr 19, 2003 3:43 pm Subject: Here's to Irritability.

Dixie McCall headed with a firm purpose for the cool caffeinated sanctuary of the main ER nurse's lounge. Her hair was ratty, her feet ached and she was grumpier than Kelly Brackett, even on his worst day.

Joe Early saw her retreating form in the relatively crowded hallway and he called out, raising a few fingers in a hail. "Say, Dix.."

McCall only saw red. "What now?!Can't you see I'm going on break here?" and Dixie whirled to face whoever was interrupting her rare hard won personal off time. She about faced sharply and angrily whipped the loose wispys out of her eyes with the only thing not frazzled by the 'Day from H*ll', her elegant fingernails. "Oh, it's just you.."

Joe blinked in surprise and actually back peddled a few steps."Whoa.. Is that too much coffee talking or did that experimental resupply inventory nurse screw up the paramedic drug cupboard again?"

Dixie sighed immediately in resigned instant apology and buried her head against Joe's shoulder. "Oh,.." she sighed in embarrassed apology. "Rewind the last five seconds, Joe please."  
And she lifted her head, straightening his lapels which were just as rumpled from the morning as hers was. "I'm snarly because I can't FIND any coffee.  
What IS going on around here? I swear every nurse and doctor's got a vendetta against me today. I can't find a single pot even partially full anywhere."

"Well, how about in there?" Joe said helpfully,  
pointing to the nurse's lounge that Dixie had already been beelining for.

"Thanks so much for the suggestion..."  
she said wearily. "Let's go and then you can tell me why you're here seeking me out."

Joe grinned eagerly and darted ahead to open the door for his work beaten friend with a gallant "no after you" gesture.

Dixie barely managed to muster a nod of gratitude. Then she rushed over to the silver pot glistening on the hot pad by the wall of mugs across from the couch, beating out a pretty young student nurse about to reach for it too. The candy striper beat a hasty retreat at Dixie's pounce.

Smiling and purring ferally, Dixie grabbed onto the steamy handle.

The heft of the coffee service in her hand made Dix double take and immediately she started swearing like a truck driver. "I can't believe it! I am seeing a whole wall of employee coffee mugs stained with today's coffee rings! Everyone's but mine.." and she slammed down the empty chrome pot back onto the counter with a bang.

"Oo. Dix. Take it easy. Isn't there a whole can of Folder's in the cabinet above you?"

Dixie banged the back of her head without looking into its door and the olive green cupboard swung neatly open behind her to reveal a lone, much bedraggled brand new coffee can, crushed flat like an accordian. "Brice's on duty today and whenever he is, coffee grounds evaporate like fog. Johnny Gage thinks he brews and drinks it all in one ten minute sitting. How else is Craig able to run at the mouth so much? That man's a high speed walking talking," her head bobbed " and coffee drinking, paramedic manual."

Joe chuckled. "No, I don't believe that about the disappearing coffee thing. Brice's just got perfect recall and Kel thinks it's just coincidence about the coffee going missing from the rooms he's been in. He thinks that patient visitors are doing it."

"Well, that doesn't fix my dilemma here now does it..?" and her lower lip quivered and she started whimpering explicatives, this time tinged with tearful frustrated barely contained rage.

Joe winced. "Oo. Dix. Take it easy. Look,  
I got an idea for you. How about calling downstairs to commissary and ordering a fresh pot of coffee just for you. You could hide it in Kel's office where nobody else would find it.." he dangled, studying the thick gold rings on his fingers mildly."And Kel could run interference using his rank to keep the rest of the staff away from it while bringing that pot directly here."

Dixie's tirade immediately broke off.  
"Now why didn't I think of that?" and her face beamed in discovery at Joe.

Her face right away fell. "Oh, nuts..!"  
she said, leaning on the wall.

"What?"

"The commissary operator on duty's currently ticked off at me for begging ice off them for the ER all morning."

"Why is she mad at you for that?" Joe wanted to know, sipping his newly poured tea.

Dixie's mouth thinned with regret. "Each time I called, that girl waved, the you-gotta-have-  
a-doctor's-order in my ear two seconds after what I wanted was out of my face. I must have called down there twelve times today, Joe, looking for some. For Treatment One's heatstroke. Treatment Three's sprained ankle. Treatment Two's first trimester morning sickness." Dixie shook her head to erase the images in her mind of the madhouse morning so recently played out in her recent memory.  
"I can't say that I was very charming to her by the tenth or eleventh call on hearing that same you-must-follow-procedure speech." Dix said sheepishly.

"I get the picture. And I can see her point."

"Huh?" Dixie asked not quite hearing him for the stream of complaints still pouring out of her lips.

"Ah, Nothing. Oh, Hey, I got it! I'll call down FOR you and have it delivered ASAP to Kel's office.  
I'll let him know what's up with your coffee exclusitivity plans. I'm on my way in there now to see him so we can organize both our notes for the all paramedic's meeting this afternoon. Yeah.. He can accept the order, sign for it, then run it down here. How does that sound?" Joe suggested eagerly.

"Like a godsen--" The red phone went off next to Dixie's head, making her startle off the wall with a yelp. She caught herself with a groan and blinked in cursing nonverbals and she picked up the receiver. "Nurse's lounge this is Dixie McCall."

Joe saw her face sag into new depths of suffering as she heard the messenger on the phone deliver news. Dixie hung up the phone without looking and started banging her head against the wall. "Why why why? Oh, geez.  
can it get any worse? OOOghhhh.."

"What's up?" Joe asked.

"Maintenance called and they're moving room by room to scrub the ventilation ducts in all the treatment rooms. I had forgotten they were going to do that today and I accidently filled every room with a patient."  
She wilted and began bouncing her head against the wall by the phone.

Thunk.

Thunk.

To Dixie, the action was ....almost soothing.

To Joe, it was a thing of worry.  
"Hey, quit doing that. You'll give yourself a headache."

"I already got one from not finding any coffee remember?"" she moaned. But she stopped thudding her forehead against the wall.

But I thought I just figured out how to solve that dilemma.." Joe said confused.

"No you didn't. My breaktime's over.." Dixie sighed, tapping her wrist watch.  
"Oh, h*ll.. See ya on the floor.." and she dragged herself back through the lounge door with all the weight of the world falling heavily back onto her shoulders.

"Hey Dix..!" he called out after her.

"What?!" she snapped.

"Kel can always set up that coffee IV push for you, and run your line in brachially."

Dix threw go away hands at him feebly for the joke as she paced the distance back to her chart piled desk without looking at him, with all the body english of the classic down trodden, picked on playground kid.

Joe chuckled and continued heading down the hall for Kel's office.

-----------------------------------------------

"*&%#! Look out below!" Marco hollered.

The Station 51 gang, minus Cap, clustered inside the base of the hose tower where they had been watching Marco struggle with his penalty chore high above, scattered like so many chickens.

Sixty feet of soggy heavy hose spaghetti-ed to the asphalt with a wet smack and the brass nozzle coupling end rang with a loud bell ping as it struck the ground before settling still.

Chet cupped a hand and grinned as he shouted up to his coworker dangling precariously from his life belt from the haul up apparatus on the tower frame. "Hey Lopez, Cap's gonna flay ya alive if you dent any more of those connectors by bouncing them off the pavement like that."

Marco glared right back down again, swinging comically from where he had slipped from the footstand. "Hey Kelly, I'm gonna loop the next one around your neck if you don't start zipping su boca ahora!"

Roy was staying out of it, mildly discomforted by the tension between Chet and Marco on what was just payback on a lost bet. "Marco, he didn't mean it. He's trying to gloat a bit to get more effect out of it."

"Yeah? Well you're not helping either.. You're all staring. I hate it when people stare at me when I'm doing something new. It makes me clumsy."

Chet was about to issue another retort on the wide open comment Marco had just made when Gage smacked a firm hand over Chet's mouth to hush him up. "Chet, enough's enough. Let's all just get go back inside and give the man some dignity on figuring out how to hang those things right up there, ok?"

Kelly turned on his heels and regarded Johnny eye to eye. "This coming from the number one gloater at Station 51? Amazing. Gee, Johnny. And I was only imitating you, pal. You've been such an inspiration to me."

"I don't follow." Gage said levelly.

"Your behavior during our Phantom Strikes war last year. Man, that was without a doubt, the sweetest example of a pro prankster role model. Ya gotta gloat."

"Not that much. You've been at him for ten minutes straight."

"Well, you're all watching. Doesn't that make you just as guilty of contributing to my supposed delinquency?"

"Yeah..it sure does. And I'm no longer going to be an accomplice." Roy said mildly, and he turned on his shoes and left for the kitchen door in a show of instant departure from the yard. "I'll set aside some dry towels for you, Marco, in the locker room!"

"Thanks. Appreciate it.." the sweaty tired Lopez hollered back. Then he regained his feet once more on the platform. He restrung the hose's buddy line through the pulley to hand over hand the errant fallen hose back up onto the draining tower hook again.

Marco made it a point to ignore those on the ground.

Soon, his move worked and even Chet lost his desire to egg Marco while he toughed it out.

There were still nine soggy hoses that needed to be hauled up manually by rope and drained from the to do pile.

And the conditions of the bet Chet had outlined prevented the loser from getting any help doing the weekly tower chore.

But soon, Stoker managed to slyly untangle a loop in the fallen hose with a foot when Chet wasn't looking..

Marco grinned when he saw him from the corner of his eye. ::Stoker. I love you. There was no way I was going to climb all the way back down to do that again..:: he thought in gratitude. ::I owe you one. Maybe even a whole afternoon's chrome polishing. That's if I ever get my arms back..::

One by one the guys left for breakfast and Gage made sure Chet went through the door without another gloating glance back, with a swift boot to his rear. "Come on, Caesar.. the arena's closed for the day." Gage scowled and he shot Marco an I'm sticking up for you look before he too disappeared into the station.

-------------------------------------------------------

Cap was reading the paper in the recliner.  
"Was that another nozzle biting the dust a few minutes ago?"

Johnny studdered. "Ah, no Cap. " he lied.  
"That was, uh.. Me.." he grinned badly.  
"I was testing out the bell on the old engine.  
I mean, we...have to make sure it's still in good condition after all winter under that tarp. Right?"

"Hmph." Cap grunted from behind the stocks page.

Johnny decided the grunt was one of agreement and that his fibbing worked. ::I'll sneak back out there after breakfast and help Marco pound that nozzle round again before Cap discovers it.:: He eased down onto the leather couch and immediately stood up again when he realized that he had almost sat down on their mascot. "Oh, sorry Henry.. Didn't see you there."

"How could ya miss him, Gage. He's fatter than a turkey and he fills up that whole side of the couch." Kelly quipped. "I think, Henry needs to go on a diet."

"Sounds like someone else I know.." Cap said seriously. "You know, a rep of 200 pushups might not be such a bad idea for you. And that's getting off light for a fireman who's just lied to his captain."

His intended target, cleared his throat nervously.  
"Sorry, Cap. I'm having second thoughts about getting payback on our chili cooking contest bet like this." Gage said suddenly on the hot seat.

"Right. " Stoker said sarcastically teasing. "If I ever believe that, H*ll'll freeze over." Stoker quipped.

All the gang laughed,except Chet.

"Geez, that's the last time I ever take up a betting challenge with you guys.  
Marco's just being a sore loser that's all.  
I can't believe you guys bought his I'm so wounded act." Kelly complained.

"He wasn't acting." Gage glared. "Chet, there's collecting a bet and then there's cruelty. You standing there watching him was definitely uncool."

"Well, I didn't see any one blindfolding your eyes shut, pal. I wasn't alone dodging those hoses Marco dropped now was I?"

"That doesn't count. We weren't saying anything." Roy said.

"You didn't have to, you heard Marco. He said he that being stared was just as bad."

"Oh, Chet. You're impossible.." Gage said.

"No, I'm just right for once so live with it."

Cap finally cleared his throat, more than a few times. "Do I detect a little animosity here? I mean, I know we had a little too many weird and useless runs last night that kept us from getting much sleep, but this is just plain unprofessional behavior I'm hearing now."

"Cap.. How can you say that? You're a part of it. You were the one who judged who's chili was best.."

"Yeah, well you didn't see me out there staring like an MVA gawker now, did you?"

That shut Kelly up and the feeling of tension in the room died away.

Only the sounds of eating filled the air during the rest of the meal. Everyone winced when they heard another hose nozzle bite the dust out in the yard.

------------------------------------------------

Photo: Dix and Joe at the ER main desk.

Photo: Marco, Chet and Johnny beneath the station's hose tower in the yard.

Photo: Roy in the yard, looking accomodating.

*  
From : "Cory Anda" Subject :[EmergencyTheaterLive] One Thing After Another... Date : Sun, 27 Apr 2003 22:59:02 +0000

Marco Lopez finally had the tower squared away.

One hand was still grooming his hair into place with a comb while the other shovelled breakfast into his mouth at a rapid fire rate when the inevitable call went out. "Madre dios! No otra vez.." Lopez cursed. "Always at a meal time." he grumbled throwing both comb and fork onto his plate.

The rich tones from the speaker grill continued to sound a multiple tone run.

Chet Kelly rose from his seat at the kitchen table, wiping his mouth with a hasty napkin.  
"I'm surprised you're surprised Marco. It's always once again around here." he said spinning around neatly in a dodge to avoid Stoker's chair as the engineer bailed it.

"Let's move out.." Cap hollered, abandoning his paper and apple. "Here ya go, boy. I promise you an ample feeding of a lot more when we get back.." And he sailed a crisp meaty missile of bacon high into the air in the general direction of the station's snoozing basset hound.

Henry's slumped body suddenly animated and his head shot up from the depths of the couch to intercept the tasty treat with a tail wag of instant forgiveness.

Gage gulped down the rest of his milk and half a banana as he and Roy jogged to the rescue squad after the rest of the gang.  
He chucked his banana peel out the window neatly into a mop bucket leaning against the map wall.

##Station 51 with Station 10 and Truck 127. Unknown type rescue at the Los Angeles City Zoo.  
18 south Ramsfeld Ave. Cross street, Hollywood Blvd. 18 south Ramsfeld Ave. Crosstreet, Hollywood Blvd.  
Informant on location requests all on response,  
to enter at the eastern gate. Time out, 9: 04.##

--------------------------------------------------

Station 51 arrived first to the scene.

Captain Stanley eyed where they were to go from his place, bouncing in the cab seat and he voiced one single solitary question to Mike, as he swung the wide wheel hard to the left to turn onto the zoo property.  
"Well, I'll be. Stoker. What day is it today?"

"Sunday.." he replied.

"Right. Then just where the heck are all the people? This parking lot's empty.."  
he muttered.

Chet and Marco rubbernecked out the engine windows from where they were fussing into their trenchcoats. The squad and engine's sirens died away and they all piled out of the vehicles. Only birdsong met their ears. That and the wind.

Roy and Johnny ran up with all their med gear and a stokes stretcher. "Cap, we got it all. Roy wants to know if we should pack more rope in with the stokes here just in case w--"

He broke off, seeing the engine gang standing mute and puzzled at the wrought iron gate that was ajar, next to the big metal sculpture of mountain gorillas.  
Roy and John were caught up in the not quite right feel of the location.

Stanley pinwheeled around in place,  
his HT firmly in hand as he located the sign labelling the gate where they idled on the curb. "What the h*ll? This IS the east gate... Where's our informant?"  
Cap knew he had the right place since he could see the responding fire truck and station called with them just entering the corner of the avenue framing the huge empty parking lot on their way in.

"Hey! Fire Department!" Gage called out inside the gate, hefting the weight of the gear inside of the stokes between him and a very quiet and alert Roy. Chet and Marco moved to help them manage their load.

There was no reply. Johnny's voice echoed eerily through the fake stony animal exhibit cliffs and ringing eucalyptus trees dotting that side of the city zoo. There wasn't any sign of anyone at all rushing up in a panic to tell them exactly what the problem was.

Cap got on the horn. "L.A., This is station 51,  
We're on scene. Stand by for details."

##10-4, 51.##

"Ok. Everyone.. You know the drill. Let's just.  
get in there and have a look around. If this is just a false alarm, I want to be doubly sure of it before we call it off. Stoker charge a line just in case this is a fire call."

"Right, Cap.." they said.

Hank led the way through the entrance gate and into the zoo and his men followed with the gear laden stokes.

Inside, all was eerily quiet. Even the overhead skyway ride.

Kelly mumbled to the others. "Man. Where is everyone? This is a weekend, shouldn't there be droves of people enjoying themselves right now?"

"That's my understanding of it.." Lopez muttered,  
loosening his helmet strap.

Cap and the men eagle eyed everything, alert for anything that might happen.

What they didn't expect was a galloping camel running down the neat asphalt path, bellowing in fear.

The gang barely got out of the way as the dromedary lumbered by, foaming at the mouth and gasping as it ran in the heat, past them.

They had barely registered that fact into their minds when a low peeled threat call came from the direction from which the camel had run.

The stunned firemen froze as a snarling black panther, quite uncaged and free, crouched to hiss at them in fear and anger.

Cap lifted his HT. "Stoker.. We need that charged two inch with refrigeration now. We've a loose predator on us fifty meters down our path." he said quickly and quietly.

Mike Stoker was there in less than fifteen seconds, backing up his crewmates with a fizzing nozzle aimed at the cat.

"Easy.. Don't hit him. Just scare him." Cap ordered.

The sun glistening ebony panther fled at the sound of the hissing barely contained pressurized water Mike released at a touch on his hose bar.

It headed in the direction of the camel, uphill and into thicker cover.

"That would explain why there are no people around Cap.." Kelly said, swallowing around a very dry throat.

Hank frowned, very very frustrated with the way things were going. "Open cages? No one around?  
What is this? Some kind of re-enactment of the Day of the Animals going on here?"

"I loved that movie, Cap." Kelly chuckled.  
"But I don't think there's any filming scheduled for today. I should know. My sister lives a few blocks from here. Besides, there's no wrangler running after those two."

"Somehow, I'd feel better knowing that this whole thing WAS a movie set, Chet. But things aren't feeling like that situation at all." Cap said, listening to an intuition that was screaming at him.

Gage adjusted his helmet. "I know what you mean.  
Something's not right here."

"Duh.." Kelly said, throwing a careless glove in the direction the big cat had bounded. "Didn't you notice our very large friend with all the teeth a few moments ago?"

Mike Stoker began to relax and just sealed off the hose to closed again with a grin.

The other guys chuckled.

Gage said. "I saw him. I saw him. I'm...talking about the lack of people around here. I just wanna know how they vacated the premesis so fast.  
I mean, even if there's an escaped animal or two,  
there's bound to be some crazy yokel who'll want to hang around despite things, just to watch.  
Just like they do all the time at our fire calls.  
But I don't even see any of them right now."

That sobered up everyone.

"What's scarier than a four hundred pound very hungry black panther?" Hank asked frankly, still eyeballing where the cat had gone warily.

Roy swallowed. "Do we really want to find out?"

Hank blinked. "Gee, that's why we were called I suspect. Stoker, stay close with that hose and have it set to tight stream for our security."

"It's set.." Stoker replied.

Cap got on his HT. "Engine 51 to Station 10 and Truck 127. Hold your position. Notify Animal Control that we have a panther and camel loose on the grounds. There may be others nearby. We've a water line with us for safety."

##10-4. Standing by, Engine 51..## The caps of 10's and Truck 127 replied over the frequency.

The gang slowly moved up the path in the direction the two escapees had come, dragging gear and primed ice water hose behind them.

Three wild animals later, Station 51 located the problem at a loud clattering sound that made their hearts leap into their throats.

A man, fully clothed in jeans and nothing else,  
was climbing like an ape in an empty seeming exhibit with a row of keys and chains dangling from his pocket up where he darted about the rocks.

He spotted the firemen and began to laugh drunkenly.

"Bingo.." Kelly quipped. "Try a zoo employee suffering an O.D. of some kind."

"Now I've seen it all.." Hank's eyes shot up.

"Shh,, or you'll jinx us. The day's not over yet."  
Marco complained.

"Ok... let's have at it." Cap said, and he took off his helmet to appear less threatening to the man. "Everyone, inside. And shut the door behind ya. Believe it or not, we'll be safer in, than out here."

No one argued and the stokes, hose and gear quickly piled onto the yellow dirt in the animal exhibit.

Mike Stoker tensed as a dust cloud and snorting met them from the left. They all unlocked once more when they saw the animals that called the enclosure the man had invaded, home.

"Whew.. Just pigs this time..." Kelly sighed.

"They're peccaries.." Gage corrected.

"What?" Hank asked.

"Wild pigs..I remember similar ones from the reservation.. They won't harm us. They'll run first. Just stay away from the piglets."

Roy was ignoring the idle chitchat going on around him. His attention was fully on the man swaying like a monkey on the rocky shelf above their heads. "Hey... are you ok? We came to help you out a bit here." he spoke softly, moving slow.

"Fat chance fire boy. You don't wanna help me.  
You wanna help them..." the sweating manic man gasped. To Roy, he looked violent.

Then he saw the fresh oozing track marks on the man's arms and was assured that his first impression was a correct one. "Heroin..or something else." he sighed.

Cap's eyes fell to where Roy noticed those signs.  
"Looks like.. Ok, everyone, stay still and let Johnny and Roy handle him. Mike, make sure the way outta here's blocked."

"We're locked in. I just closed the exhibit's gate." Stoker admitted.

At those words the young wild haired man in blue jeans began to wail and fret. He started to scramble on the rocks and very nearly slipped on loose stone up where he was.

Johnny threw out a hand. "Easy! Now we're not gonna hurt you. Careful.. Or you're gonna fall and hurt yourself.."

"Whatda you care?" their victim slurred.  
"You justwanna come and get me so the fuzz can arrest me..."

"Do I look like I'm wearing a pistol and cuffs?  
I'm not a cop here. Just a paramedic."

At that word, the man's attention shifted from suspicion to craving. "Y- you got drugs down there? Really? Uh,.." and he scratched his feverish face, swatting at the dust in his nose. "Can I ..uh,...wanna share?"

Gage's eyes flickered only for a moment in hesitation. Then his brainstorming began.  
He crouched down over the stokes and slowly,  
cautiously flipped open the drug and IV box.  
"Yeah man.. Look, I got some nice stuff.  
Won't cost ya much.." he grinned in an act.  
"The first hit's free. Just like the west side.  
A real deal.."

"I don't believe you." said the agitated man.  
"I don't even know you!" he shouted.

"Does it matter..?" Gage shot back, setting his hands on his hips. "Look I haven't got all day. My buyer's gonna wonder where I am with the stuff if I'm not there in...twenty minutes.." Johnny made up. "And you know how that goes. I'll pay for the delay.. in skin.."

The drug high man angled his head.  
"Prove your worth pusher.. I ain't got all day."

Gage's face fell for one sec while the gang around him licked nervous lips and all had a full curiosity about what he would do next in his victim negotiation.

Roy crossed his arms in amusement.

And Cap felt confident enough to put his helmet back on.

Johnny snatched up a saline push and unsheathed it, hiding its label so the man wouldn't see its non drug label's color. Then he tied on a tourniquet and fitted a needle onto the syringe. "Ooh, yeah. This is meperidine. Gives me a good rush. Especially on boring days like today. And its clean, Mac. Not cheap home lab sh*t. I think I'm gonna shoot it all for me since I don't like the way you're talking."

He fingered a vein and stuck the needle home into his own arm and started depressing the plunger, sending the liquid in with a sigh.

"No! Wait man... I was only kidding.. I trust ya.."  
the man fretted. "Gimme some.."

From behind him, a Marco and Stoker he didn't see, on ropes, tackled him from their place on the rocks and drove him to the ground.

The man's drug enflamed rush surged into the superhuman and Lopez and Mike were flung off like wet clothes.

The man was free again and he attacked the next nearest person he saw. The drug crazed man leaped from where he was on the ledge, right onto Cap.

--------------------

Photo: Cap and Marco laughing in the kitchen.

Photo: Gage pointing to a med in the drug box.

Photo: A zoo exhibit full of wild pigs.

Photo: The Engine and Squad pulled next to stately palm trees.

Photo: A camel in a rocky pen.

Photo: The gang looking down with gear at something in full turnout.

Date: Thu, 1 May 2003 14:51:02 +0100 (BST) From: "Katherine Bird" .uk Subject: Double Jeopardy, Porker Style..

"Cap!" Roy shouted even as he watched Johnny pull the needle out of his arm to fling it away from them all to help block the coming impact.

Stanley neatly dodged the fullest weight of his attacker but his helmet still jolted off when super strong arms caught him around the throat.

Marco and Mike were frantically untangling from their ropes as Chet, John, Roy and Cap all wrestled with the biting, fighting crazed zoo worker in silent desperate gasps.

"Watch his head! Watch his head!" Johnny shouted as they all grunted to get a hold on the wildly aggressive man.

Stanley's HT clattered to the dirt and went off in a loud squelch, which startled the nervous milling peccaries on the far sunny side of the enclosure. The older boars began to snort and face the humans in nervous expectation,  
taking a position in front of the smaller sows and piglets in their band and they snorted and pawed the amber dust in a threat display.

All this, was unseen by the firemen struggling to restrain their victim who was still locked in a dangerous overdose.

Marco and Stoker had just joined the fray when the gasping, screaming young man noodled impossibly out of all their grips and bounded up immediately onto very fast, wobbly feet.

He took off running straight for a thickly bushed side of the animal enclosure. The peccaries squealed and got out of his way,  
creating a thick cloud of yellow dust as they avoided the running human arrowing drunkenly at them.

The gang pursued after him, top speed.

Roy threw his HT up to his mouth speaking in between painful breaths as he, too, ran full tilt into the direction where the sick man had disappeared.

"Station 10 on the double. Follow our hose! We've a fighter OD who's getting away.."

## There in one..## came a loud reply.  
Roy could see several of 10's firefighters booking down the main zoo tar path using 51's strung hose as a guide. He heard their shoes scuff on the sandy trail as they raced over from the deserted parking lot to help out.

"In here! In here!" Cap waved at the other engine crew. He wiped a smear of his blood off his lips as he ordered his own men to circle the not yet unspotted zoo worker. "Gang, when you bird eye him, stay AWAY from him. Your safety is first! Just form a ring around this character and cut off his escape. And for G*d's sake, don't agitate him further. I want no one else getting a hunk ripped outta them. Stoker, use the hose if he attacks us again."

"Right, Cap." Mike said.

Soon, it was apparent that their crazy drugged up junkie, had gotten himself into a good hiding place.

Cap issued a tight order. "Ok, everybody. Fan out. We'll give this five minutes. Then we're outta here until the cops come. The danger to us is just too great."

"Cap.." Chet said. "That guy really needs us. It hasn't been that bad yet.."

"Just look at my face and throat and tell me that again, Kelly. I said no more after five."

Chet moused down.

"You ok, Cap?" Gage said, keeping his eyes on the brush thicket's edge where they had all skidded to a halt.

"Bruised only, Gage. Concentrate on him and not me. He's first."

The gang circled around like pursuers in a hide and seek game, separating into pairs under the darkness of the wooded section of the exhibit.

They all lost sight of each other and that made Hank Stanley nervous. "Keep within earshot." he shouted. "And keep those helmets on.."

Minutes dragged by of stealthy, cautious searching.

Johnny Gage and Roy gestured silently to each other at a particularly loud rustle in the thick vegetation right in front of them during their sweep of the forested side of the enclosure.

Gage leaned over to peer over the low rhododendron.  
"Roy! He's right here.. he's--" he hissed.  
A sharp squeal of rage preceded an angry charging two hundred pound peccary boss as the animal flew at Gage who had inadvertantly located his band's hiding place.

"Whoa!!" Gage shouted in alarm, spinning away,  
barely avoiding the click of pig fangs at his face.

"Johnny?!" Mike shouted, raising the hose nozzle from the ground. Stoker fought to drag the heavy hose through the tallish grass with two other of ten's firemen in a desperate attempt to have one cocked and aimed point blank against Johnny's attacking peccary. "We're coming! Turning on the hose in--"

"No, don't..! Wait a sec.." Johnny shouted, scrambling away from the animal nimbly until he regained his footing in a patch of sandy dust, like a matador avoiding a bull. Then Gage threw out a hand and kept the squealing hairy animal off of him by ramming a stiff arm and hand against the pig's forehead to keep the gnashing charges the boar was launching at him firmly at bay. "I'm ok.. I got him.. He's not getting to me.  
Just go get the guy! Don't spray ANY of that charged water on the pigs you hear me?! It'll drive em into a frenzy..You'll bring the juveniles down on us, too.  
They'll gang up big time to get us just like this boar's doing to me."

Gage was surprised by the tenacity of the enraged boar who showed absolutely no fear as he continued furiously trying to get at him. "I'm not bothering your band you stupid thing. Cut it out!" he shouted at him, gasping with his efforts to hold the pissed pig male away from his body. "Get off!" he shouted at the snorting, slobbering peccary mob boss.

Roy moved nearer.

"Stay back.. Roy!"  
Johnny tried to push away the boar with a shoving shoe into a shoulder but the pig just rushed right back at him with an even angrier raised tail and got quickly into another pushing match of pig forehead versus fumbling human hands once again.

"Johnny! Careful! Shall I rope him?" Marco said, gathering one up from the ground.

"No.. It won't work, he'll just dodge it. Guys, look, I'm fine. He'll give up once he sees I got the message here.." Gage panted. "Go help over there. But whatever you do, don't go near the sows or any of those young in there or you'll be trampled and tusk shredded into hamburger."

"But.."

"Go.. I'm really fine." Gage said, still face to face with the red eyed, furious, one track minded, boar.  
"He's just driving me off."

Johnny had a healthy respect for the five inch long fangs that tried to slash up at his bare arm and he frequently shifted hands to avoid them. "Guys, go. I know how to get out of this..UgggHHHh! " he verbally spat. "The wild pigs charge me all the time at the ranch when I get too close going to get the horses. All ya gotta do is wait em out.. Just give me some distance. He'll think better of this soon and he'll leave." he grunted, still holding the heavy male pig away from himself.  
Roy muttered, just as torn as Marco on what to do for his partner. Then he decided, motioning to Lopez. "Our OD doesn't have a lotta time left. He's gonna go down."

"Exactly.. I'll join up with ya.." Johnny said,  
not taking his eyes off the grunting, attacking pig still locked nose to hand with him. "I'm ok. Just go! This boar'll give up in a minute or so. I've seen this before. He's gonna fret about being so far away from his sows."

Roy and Marco and Mike reluctantly backed away from Johnny still dancing in his bizarre embrace.

"What a crazy day.." DeSoto muttered. "Holy cr*p." he shook his head. Then he said,  
"Come on..let's get out of here like Johnny says." and he motioned to the others to follow him back onto the search. "Our victim's bound to be feeling a downer swing by now. He wrestled with us pretty good there and that most likely elevated his BP into circulating even more of that junk into his brain. He's probably not that far from-"

A shout from Cap brought the two of them on the run through sixty feet of stinging, thick brush.

Roy, Marco and Mike ran towards the voice as fast as they could.

Hank said. "He's over there somewhere!" and he pointed to a stand of trees. "Lord all mighty what's he doing in there?" he asked as Marco and Roy pelted up to his side. He was using a gauze pad from his pocket to hold down the bleeding from his tongue which he had bitten earlier.

Roy and Marco and another clump of firemen from ten's all froze. Roy recognized the sounds.  
"Oh boy. He's tangling with a pig."

"How do you know?" Hank asked.

"Cause I just left Johnny who's doing the same thing."

"What?!" Hank's head whipped around.  
"What are you talking about? Gage's right here."

Roy saw his dusty sweating partner jogging swiftly towards them through the tangle of California jungle. "Never mind, Cap. Just trust me about him over there. It's not gonna be a pretty scene."

"Ok, what next?" Stanley said, parking his hands on his jacket hips.

"Water. Lots of it.." Gage said.

Marco whined. "But I thought you said not to use a hose on them.."

"The frenzy's begun Lopez, that's why. It may already be too late for him.  
Come on!"

And he ran in the lead towards the sound of fighting just ahead under the tall sequoia at the corner of the exhibit. The man had tried to take refuge in an open whelping shed that had a keeper's bed in it.

Both companies of ten and 51 froze in horror at what they saw. The OD'd young man was down on the ground and the angry female peccaries were taking turns using him as a football and punching bag.

Some of the infuriated sows were so strong their bites actually lifted the unconscious man's whole upper torso a foot off the dirt as they tossed their heads to bite him.

Mike Stoker let loose a peel of sharply knifed water against those closest to the injured man without a moment to lose.

Sows tumbled like nine pins under the force of the water and squealed. Others wheeled around in place to face the new threat in a quickly forming bunched counter attack.

"Hit the piglets, Mike! Hit the piglets.. Get em wet!"  
Johnny shouted. "Their mamas will go running for them at their screaming distress calls."

Stoker changed his hose stream to a fountaining fan and aimed it up into the sky. An ice cold drenching soaked the tiny piglets bunched in a protective circle and on cue, the tiny porkers let loose high pitched cries of alarm and clamour.

The sows left the zoo worker's trampled body alone, zooming out to herd up their babies and soon the whole dripping bunch was hastily loping away from the humans with tails raised in sheer terror.

Stoker dropped the hose.

Johnny grimaced as he rolled the bluish man over. "Oh.." he sighed in horror at the sight of fresh peccary slashes covering the man's chest. But he bent an ear close anyway to the man's torn mouth as his dirty stained fingers felt for a neck pulse, too. "He's in that downer for sure. Brady with apnea."

"Go get the gear!" Cap shouted to Marco and half a dozen others.

Soon, they could hear men coming with the laden stokes they had left in the main clearing by the zoo's pathway fence and moat.

Gage started to breathe for the man until Stoker handed him an ambu bag and mask. "Thanks.."

Johnny looked up at Roy. "He's got a rate of 40. It's not enough. Start CPR timed with it."

"Marco.. You got that?" DeSoto asked.

"Yeah.." And Lopez starting working off Johnny's pulse rhythm cues as to when to apply his compressions. He kept his gloves on so his hands wouldn't slip in the blood on the man's skin that was oozing down from the pig bites.

"These lacerations don't look that bad.  
He's lucky.." Gage said. "There's only that one broken arm."

"I see it." Roy agreed. "Any sign of vomiting?"

"No.. He's out deep." Gage replied.  
"Chet, turn on the audio on the EKG monitor. It'll help Marco out to time his pacing properly."

"Right.." Kelly replied. But he kept looking over his back for any signs of the peccary band,  
and that irritated Johnny.

"Pay attention, Kelly. Just concentrate on patching him in there. We don't have all day.." Cap snapped. "We've haven't got a lot of time left for us to try and actually get a save in the bag for this man."

"Sorry, Cap.." Chet apologized, ending his rubber necking. "It's just that they might come barreling back out of nowhere at any s--"

Stoker spoke up louder than usual.  
"Any that come near are going to eat some serious water, Kelly. Don't you worry."  
he promised.

Hank smiled around his fat lip as he unlatched, then kicked open, the squad's defibrillator case with a toe.  
At a nod from Johnny, he turned on the power up switch to standby.  
"That's my anchor man. Stoker, you're being wasted on the engine dials. You're an absolute ace on that hose."

"The engine's more fun, Cap. Sorry.  
I'm not planning on a demotion any time soon."

"Such a pity.." Hank sighed.

"I'll call Rampart." Roy said smiling as the worst of his stress melted away. He was very very glad to have his hands on their victim at last. He concentrated on getting on the biophone as fast as he could.  
"Rampart Base, this is Squad 51. How do you read?"

Chet bit his lip, grinning, too. "Ok, Marco.. it's CPR symphony time.  
Pow.." he muttered as he turned on the slow weak audio cue on the EKG speaker. "It's show time."

Marco began coordinating his compressions when the man's drugged slow heart rate actually beat by listening to the machine's mechanical blipping. After half a minute he asked the swiftly working paramedics. "Should I speed up?"

"Not yet. Don't want any more of that stuff or whatever's he's shooting to get to his brain any worse than it already has until we inject some Narcan. He's holding his own ok now with you just helping out like you are. Stay exact with your assisting, on the beat." Roy told him, without looking up. He didn't even smile some encouragement to his crewmate, for already his mind was considering five paramedic problems at once.

Again, he hailed Rampart while one of ten's medics tried to get a viable BP off the man's good arm. "Rampart this is rescue 5-1..Do you copy?"  
his voice angled yet again, only a little more urgently. The heart rate on the monitor continued to weaken and slow.

------------------------------------------

Photo: An angry peccary charging at you with another photo inset of one baring its five inch long tusks.

Photo : Johnny with a shirtless near code,  
looking distressed.

Photo: Roy looking fight bedraggled, on the biophone.

*  
From: "Clairissa Fox" .uk Date: Thu, 1 May 2003 20:14:52 +0100 (BST) Subject: [EmergencyTheaterLive] The Little Eyes

The little piglet shook its head and squealed some more until his dam nuzzled his ear. Where was the lady keeper? There were only man things in the wood. And another man thing who smelled funny had become an enemy because he got too close by moving fast and kicking the other dams in the band. The memory of the new creatures in his pen had frightened Piglet badly but the odd acting man thing was no longer attacking him or his dams. He was flat on the ground and smelled like blood now.

Piglet thought hard on what just happened. The strange keeper man thing had been easy to fight down. The piglet remembered how the man thing with the zoo keys fell with only one charge from his mother.

Now other man things had come who wore canvas skins and black head covers and they had the great water snake with them. Piglet was afraid of that. His coat still ran with water from the liquid that had come from the snakes mouth and down from the sky that didnt smell like rain.

But piglet was puzzled now. There was one man thing with curly head fur who seemed like the keeper who cared for them all in the rising light. The other man things had soundings for him that sounded like the same calling Piglets human friend had. Chuck. Only this one was called Chet. It was all very puzzling indeed. Piglet had never before seen so many man things in his home before. Only on the days when the man thing with the biting stingers wearing the white skin coat came to put some of the band to sleep before he pawed them.

Piglet forgot his wet hide and he snuck away from his mothers band towards Chet and he sniffed and he sniffed hard on the wind. Piglet checked carefully but the man thing with the water snake didnt see him at all.

Piglets caution disappeared instantly.

Sugar!

Piglet ran up to the human things where they were pawing at the sick human in the dirt. He could still smell the treat in the Chet man things black rear cover and he nuzzled it making the Chet man thing squawk.

Piglet dashed a short distance away at the noise but he was hungry. He came at the curly furred man thing again looking for the treat he usually got from the keepers.

Hey! The tall white and black head covered man thing pointed a paw at Piglet. Watch it. Theres one of the baby piglets behind you Chet.

Piglet didnt smell danger from Chet or the leader man thing so he went right on going after the treat he could smell.

----------------------------------

Photo : A wild pig dam and one of its babies.

Photo: Chet and Marco and Cap looking down and surprised at something at their feet.

Photo: A close up of an adorable wild piglet baby.

*  
Date: Sat, 3 May 2003 14:22:03 -0700 (PDT) From: "Sam Iam" Subject: The Short Shelf Life..

Chet Kelly was leaving his place by their shocky victim's side, making room for the second paramedic from station ten to step in, when he whirled in alarm at Cap's warning.  
"What?" he startled as clammy animal nose butted into him again. "Where did he come from?"

Kelly watched his feet as he backed away on his knees so he wouldn't crush the miniscule piglet still nuzzling his rear pocket. "Hey,.. watch it buddy! You're just a bite of bacon but you're in the way!" Chet told it indignantly.

The piglet just squealed in ambivalent twitchy reply as he warred with his instincts: to run at the sound of Chet's sharp voice or stay for the reward.

The baby peccary's stomach ended up making the final decision. He kept on seeking out the source of sugar he had found with a probing snuffle.

Beyond Chet, Cap looked up, suddenly hyper-alert. "Uh oh. If he's here, where's mama?" he wondered out loud.

Mike Stoker shrugged diffidently, but he primed his hose to its releasing edge again and began to check out the trees and cover nearest to them.

Marco spoke up from where he was still doing CPR. "Chet.....better get rid......of that little......guy. There's no ......way his sow's not .....gonna come investigating once......she's learned he's strayed." he said.

Chet Kelly quickly panicked, whipping off a glove and fumbled into his pocket for the pack of Juicy Fruit gum the tiny infant pig seemed to be orienting on.

Kelly waved the wrinkled pack in front of the piglet's face until he was sure the baby was following it.."You want some? Huh? Let's strike a deal. Eat now, then scram. I'll give you this but you're gonna have to leave for good afterwards. All right?"

"Squeeeallll!" the baby snorted in frustration as it fought to climb onto Chet to reach the sugary gum he still held in his hand.

"Get down or you'll hurt yourself!" Chet complained. Then he sighed. "Here ya go ya dumb thing.." He said, hastily unpeeling a strip of it under the baby's eager nose.

Fast fangy teeth snatched up the offering, making Chet yelp.

"Oww. Stop that! Now go get it." and Kelly grenade tossed the rest of his dusty pack as far as he could over the bushes into the open so that it was well away from the firemen working on the nearly dead man on the ground. "Shoo..!" he said waving his hands in the air in flurry of gesturing fingers.

The piglet was the perfect porcine, street smart runt. He followed the gum pack's trajectory through the air like a pro frisbee dog and went instantly running for it in an attempt to get there before any of his other unseen siblings could. He motored towards where it had plunked into the dust top speed, but he was already too late.

There was a scuffling as three other piglets caught wind of the sweetly scented treat and a fight broke out between Chet's pocket nudger and the others.

Chet winced in sympathy when his little "visitor" got knocked down by an older baby.

"Ooo. Careful ya dummy."  
Then in embarrassment at his remark, he added.  
"That should hold him, Cap." Kelly said, turning back to the scene in front of him.

Cap said. "Let's hope so. If the band discovers us anywhere near those guys, there'll be h*ll to pay."

Stoker grumbled. "No there won't, Cap.  
I'll push em all away if they come around again if I have to.." and he hefted the hose nozzle in his gloves a bit higher.  
"Only as a last resort." Cap said.  
"Don't want to traumatize the little tykes any more than we have to."  
He barely contained a grin as the original curious piglet finally won the battle and loped off with the trampled gum pack in his mouth. The losers pursued, hot on his heels.

"And don't come back!" Chet told him. "A deal's a deal." he shouted.

The light moment had gone unnoticed by the four paramedics struggling to save the life of the overdosed zoo worker.

Roy finally got a returning hail from the biophone receiver, ending his doubts about the terrain interfering.

##This is Rampart." Dixie replied. "Go ahead 51.##

"Rampart. We've a male down with an apparent OD with clear indications of fresh trackmarks. He's nonbreathing with a pulse of 40. CPR's ongoing. He's got additional injuries due to an animal attack;  
a left broken radius and ulna and multiple wild pig bites to his neck, face and chest. Negative on C-spine or head injury. Vitals are.  
BP...50 systolic. Pupils are pinprick and he's unresponsive to both verbal and pain stimuli. He's got a Glasgow rating of four. All bleeding is now under control." DeSoto said as he saw Johnny make a cut throat gesture and then a point at the pads firmly taped over all the wounds.

Kel Brackett arrived into the alcove and took over the response call for his head nurse. "10- 4, 51. Maintain his airway and continue to ventilate him. Continue the CPR and send us a strip. First we've got to determine if his problem really is an overdose and not some other etiology. Draw a red top for glucose.  
Administer 1 mg glucagon IM if his blood sugar's below 60 mg %. Also follow up with 100 mgs Thiamine and 25 gm dextrose 50% IV if you can get a line into your blood stick site. Use Normal Saline, and draw up .4 milligrams Narcan. We're gonna end his downer right now any way we can. Also, be sure to immobilize that fracture to prevent further injury."

"10-4." And Roy repeated his string of orders and if-this-then-that instructions.

Almost two minutes went by when Roy turned to Johnny, with a third needle bloodied from yet another failed attempt to find and stick a vein with an IV catheter. His blood drawing had blown the last remaining clear vein and he was reduced to blind probing. "He's got nothing left here." he grunted in irritation.

"How about a jugular..?" Johnny suggested.

"Good idea." and Roy got out a new cathed needle to try his luck there in the man's neck.

Again, Roy's IV stick failed due to the man's very low blood pressure. He shook his head in frustration and abandoned the attempt. "No good." and he tossed away the needle guide. "He's too far down. Is there a place he hasn't used? Kelly, get his shoes off and pants off. Check his feet and legs for other veins. Use a tourniquet to raise any if you can."

Kelly reached over and grabbed the shears from Johnny's holster. "On it."  
The jeans pants legs banana peeled swiftly away, revealing pale, sweaty skin.

Mike helped bare the man's feet.

Roy picked up the phone. "Rampart.  
An IV may not be an option. Looks like he's a heavy user." Roy said tersely as he watched Chet and Marco located scar after scar where the druggie had shattered all his reachable veins while baselining his drug of choice.

Brackett already had an alternative plan.  
## 51, go ahead and insert an endotrach tube.  
I'm giving you authorization to do one in the field. I'll accept full responsibility.## Kel said to Roy.

Roy sighed in stress. "Affirmative Rampart.  
Stand by.."

CPR was halted while Roy, the better airway expert, got out a laryngoscope and inserted one carefully. Ten's medics helped him get the man's head and neck into the right position and then took over Johnny's place on the ambu.

Things went slow, but it went. And soon their victim was set. Roy picked up the phone. "Rampart the ET is in."

Brackett nodded his head in satisfaction.  
##Knew you could pull it off. Now increase your Narcan to two times the IV dosage I originally ordered and fill it with a following bolus of 10 ml Lactated Ringers/Normal Saline. Hyperventilate his lungs thoroughly, stop CPR, then titrate the Narcan directly into his ET tube only to the minimum level necessary for a return of respirations. Ventilate him firmly until you're sure the flush's been fully absorbed. You'll hear when that happens. Watch him closely, 51. When the Narcan starts counteracting his narcotic, if he's on one, he may spontaneously awaken so be prepared to extubate him before he has a chance to vomit.##

"10-4, Rampart.. .8 mgs Narcan with 10 ml LR/NS by ET. Please stand by.."

##Standing by..##

Soon, Dr. Brackett's orders had been carried out in the tense minutes which followed.

Johnny Gage was on the man's arm like a tick and he rapidly got a new BP when Roy indicated that the man's lungs had "dried out"  
from where he listened with his stethoscope.  
"There it goes. It's climbing. 80/54. He's breathing.  
Pulse's increasing, too. Stop CPR." and he set a hand on the man's carotid for several seconds. "Ok, I got a rate of 90. Thready and weak."

A ripple of coughs echoed through the ET under the bag valve mask and the man's hands began to flutter with voluntary movements.

"Watch him.. watch him! He's snapping out of it." Gage said. Together, the paramedics rapidly removed the endotracheal airway and followed up with suction as the man began to moan more and more angrily.

"Get a grip on him. Looks like he's going to fight." Roy said.

Several of the firemen moved in to restrain the revived young man as full consciousness returned.

"UugghhhhhHHHH. Get OFF me!" the man gasped. "AhhhhHHHHH. $##* $ !!"

Kelly had his hands full kneeling on the drug abuser's shoulder to keep him from flailing the broken, splinted arm on the ground. He bent low over him to get a better grip.

The man's slow testing struggles intensified into impossibly agile ones with a surprising pure strength seconds later.

He threw off the two firemen laying on his legs with a cry that didn't sound human.

"Dmn! He's in withdrawal." Gage swore.  
"Hold him ! Hold him!"

"No,, I gott....a...out of ...WHy do I hURT so bad??! $##**!"Agony from being Narcan yanked out of a high surged far beyond what was normal and the man reacted violently by knocking all of the firm hands on him away as if they hadn't been there at all.

He was instantly on his feet and running and the EKG leads ripped away from the connector on the monitor when it thunked into a rock as it dragged where he ran.

Eight firemen shot to their feet after him.

"Hey!" and Gage's grab for his victim missed.  
"Sh*t!"

Three other firemen's tackles missed too.

Their hideously withdrawing patient, with his split jeans legs fluttering in the wind, easily outdistanced them into the thick tree stand of the enclosure.

The paramedics heard an impact as his arm splint disintegrated when it smacked into a tree trunk as they chased after him.

"Over there!" Cap shouted from a rise.  
"He's heading back to the exhibit's gate!"  
Hank could just see him from where he was. He got on the HT. "Engine 51 to Truck 127. Our victim's fleeing to the north. Intercept him immediately. He's a blown Narcan."

Cap winced as the man's pinwheeling broken arm drove him into greater speed despite his bare feet pelting awkwardly over the rock strewn ground.

The fresh pain robbed the addict of his voice and instantly, his pursuers lost track of him in the desperate silence that followed.

Hank saw his men follow where he indicated,  
but an instinct made himself angle into a new direction as he ran, back towards the main exhibit zoo gate. ::Damn, he's got keys. He better not l--::

Cap arrived just ahead of his men just in time to see the lurching, crazed man slam the heavy iron gate shut behind him.

All the firemen were instantly locked inside the pig cage..... with no way out.

"No, you're not going to stop me..." he choked. Then he whirled as if at an unseen presence on staggering bleeding feet. "I'm-m coming! Just give me m-- more stuff, please!!! I can pay..." he gasped. " Slick, I can get you wild animals for hunting trophys.. I'm surrounded by them!! Just don't cut me off...Please.. I can't take it any morRRReeeee..!" and his voice cracked in pain and insane giggles.

Cap's face fell into sympathy and frustration when the very sick man took off running, not down the asphalt trail winding around the cages, but into the scrubland bordering it. ::The responding engine crew I called from the parking lot will never spot him now.:: he thought.

The men of station 10 and 51 all lined up along the bars of the peccary cage and watched the junkie disappear into the distance along a ridge of thick scrub that led off the zoo property.

Chet was puzzled by all the men's stunned, numb faces and he said. "Hey, don't worry, guys. The cops'll get him.  
They got bloodhounds that can track him.. Should be easy with all those cuts of his bleeding out."

Gage swiped an angry hand over his dripping face and he kicked the solid fence between him and his victim in defeated frustration.

Chet somehow knew that Johnny's anger wasn't directed at him. "Why the long face, Johnny?"

"You just don't get it, do you?" Gage snapped.

"Get what?" Kelly asked distractedly, testing the fence for a weak spot that wasn't there.

Roy's pale face sobered all present as he answered Chet's innocent question. "Narcan only works for a few minutes, only long enough to restore an OD's ability to breathe again. The effects of heroin or cocaine can last for hours, Chet."

"I still don't get it.."

Johnny set his hands on his hips and studied the ground quietly. He spoke up softly. "Our guy's gonna re-overdose when the Narcan wears off and he's gonna go right back into another catastrophic downer long before we can ever hope to relocate him. And no one's gonna be around this time to catch him when he stops breathing again."

Chet Kelly's face filled with an exquisite pain of realization and he was rendered mute when he put two and two together. The fact of the fleeing addict, being actually a walking dead man, filled his mouth with rising bile. Kelly threw a hand to his face in sudden reaction and he gasped.

Roy set a comforting grip on Kelly's shoulder.  
"Yeah,.. I know. A tough break. Come on. Maybe there's another way outta here back the way we came.  
Prepare yourself. We're gonna have to go find him later for recovery to the coroner's office."

------------------------------------

Photo: Johnny looking in between a rock and a hard place in close quarters.

Photo: A pack of Narcan.

Photo: Chet Kelly looking nauseated and lost.

*  
From : "Roxy Dee" Subject :Shattered Serenity.. Date :Wed, 07 May 2003 20:32:54 +0000

Johnny Gage was eating his sandwich with exactly zero percent concentration. Roy only remarked about it when his partner's teeth began devouring most of the paper wrapping his Chicago style Italian beef sandwich with each bite. "Hey...Johnny.." Roy nudged with an elbow. "Pay attention.."

"What? Can't you see I'm busy here?" the younger chipmunked cheeked paramedic mumbled loudly.  
His eyes never left their particular subject matter, who was seated like B*ddha on Cap's usually Cap claimed recliner in a serene yoga stance. "I'm trying to figure out just what's gotten into him.." he said waving a few broth dripping fingers towards the meditating Chet he could see in plain sight.

"Yeah? Well try to focus on what's landing in your stomach a bit there, too." DeSoto warned.  
"Didn't know your ancestory included being part termite..." Roy quipped.

"Just what do you mean by that?" Johnny said,  
his chewing halting abruptly as he looked at his senior pal for the first time during the whole conversation.

Roy decided to play it out a little more, choosing another direction with which to break news. "Never mind." he said, his quiet smile growing just a little bit bigger as a rare joking opportunity presented itself to his exclusive territory. "Tell me something. Exactly how much each were these sandwiches we got from Louis's stand after we stopped by at Rampart to resupply?"

Gage's eyes fell into another focus and he resumed chewing. "I don't know. Didn't memorize it. If you need that for the food budget I think the price tags are still on the wrapp--" and he broke off, finally realizing the whole portent of what Roy was angling into. He made a face when he realized that 3/4's of his consumed sandwich included 3/4's of the paper sheeting that had wrapped it securely inside its own juices. "Oh,,.. why didn't you tell me I was doing this, Roy..?" he complained indignantly.

DeSoto's face cracked a grin. "I tried, only you were so focused at staring holes through Kelly over there that I guess you didn't hear me."

"That's wonderful.. Now I'm gonna get an "A" number one gut ache on top of my willies, too."

Roy's eyebrows rose in amusement and he cupped his mug into his hands thoughtfully. "Somehow, I doubt that very much. My kids have eaten pounds of newspaper, crayon wrappers, caramel apple cups and sausage coats, among other things, to fill a small wagon. They never seemed to have any problems with their digestion afterwards."

"Yeah? Well, I'm not a kid.." Johnny said, depositing his oozing onion laden Italian beef sandwich onto a plate where he gingerly began dissecting it with a forceps from his hip holster and a fork from the broth soaked paper that he had been eating unknowingly. He finally gave up when he honestly couldn't tell meat from wrapper. He threw his "surgical" tools down in disgust.  
"I'll be right back. Thanks alot for not warning me sooner, partner." he said sourly, and he got up to head for the garage.

"Where are you going?" Roy asked.

"To the squad. I'm gonna get an oral laxative and anti-acid before I cramp up here." he said sarcastically.

Roy just shrugged, and let him go.

Cap passed Johnny on his way out. He had to turn sideways to avoid a collision with Gage as he came into the room. "What's with him?" he asked Roy, reaching for the platter full of beef sandwiches, still steaming on the potholders in front of the hungrily eating rest of the gang.

Roy stretched in his chair and yawned.  
"He thinks he's gonna die from a little ingested deli wrap.  
He's gone to the drug box for a few gastronomical aids."

Hank smirked as he stripped his own sandwich free of its covering before taking a huge bite of the delectable food.  
"If I had a dime for each time one of the kids ate wood pulp, I'd be a rich man." he said, shrugging off the incident as trivial. "Pass me the jalapeno peppers, would ya Marco?"

Lopez neatly slid the huge jar of them from where he sat forward with a few knuckles, without looking up from his sports section. "Here ya go, Cap. Bon appetite. Oh, avoid the little orange ones or you're gonna be running out to the squad in fear of your life, too, like Gage is doing."

"I consider myself warned." Hank grinned, digging eagerly into the chilled jar of peppers with a fork for a few chartreuse ones. "Those red things are habaneroes, aren't they?"

"Yep." Lopez grunted, turning a page.

Cap carefully built his sandwich and then organized the piles of onions and peppers on top of it with all the skill of someone sculpting a banana split when he spotted Kelly, seated like a guru in the rec room recliner.  
A glance informed him that Kelly's plate was still virgin clean. His eyebrows matched Roy's amused ones,  
only his didn't yet see any humor in the situation.  
"Say, Chet." he called out. "Fooood.." and he waved the sandwich platter with a towel to waft its aroma into the air towards him.

"Hmmmmmmm?" Kelly said dreamily from his achingly stiff yoga stance. His palms were delicately upturned at the wrists, both symmetrically draping over his carefully folded knees. He didn't open his eyes.  
"What?"

"Chow's on..." Cap repeated, a little louder.

"Thanks, Cap. I can smell it. But a little meditation's on my menu for lunch today. I need to rebalance my karma before I do anything else.." and his head tipped back into a trance pose and he began ohm'ing lowly under his breath, until his moustache vibrated.

Henry was disturbed from his snoozing nap on the couch and his ears cocked forward, curiously bugged at the new sound. He struggled off his fat and out of the sinkhole of cushions his weight had made to his haunches and his usually droopy eyes widened in surprise. The rotund basset considered his predicament for about ten seconds. Then he began to doggy howl in masking fashion over Chet's soothing "ohm's" in contrary canine agony.

The gang erupted into laughter.

Chet just cracked an eye and shot them all an irritated look. He went back to his meditation and fell mute to hush them and their station mascot, up.

Cap said. "That's fine with me, Kelly. Only come dinner time,  
I'm ordering you to eat twice. I'm not gonna have anyone getting surprise hypoglycemia tonight in the middle of a bizarre fire run later on."

"What makes you so sure we're gonna have one, Cap?"  
Stoker piped up.

Hank's hands twitched as he tried to find the best angle with which to pick up his messy sandwich. "You mean our last run didn't clue you in? It's freaky Friday today, or haven't you noticed..A fire call's the only thing we haven't gone on yet."

Gage came trudging back into the kitchen. He was grimacing and sucking down a dose or two of hospital strength pepto bismo straight from the bottle like a carton of milk.

His eyes immediately refell warily on Chet as he fumbled back into his chair to pick once more at his dissected sandwich.

He noticed that Roy had already separated the broth stained paper from the meat for him with his tools. "Thanks.." he said as he began to fork in lunch. All the while, the tense edge Johnny was harboring and the unbroken stare he was using to regard Kelly,  
remained full force.

Roy's and Cap's and Henry's eyes shifted back and forth from the oblivious meditating Chet to the very quiet and jumpy Gage. The three of them fell to eyeing them like spectators on a tennis match. Finally, Hank leaned over and asked Roy in a confidential whisper. "What's with him? Did I miss something here?"

DeSoto shrugged, taking a bite of his neatly arranged sandwich from its carefully folded down deli wrap.  
"Your guess is as good as mine, Cap.."

Johnny's ears didn't miss a thing and he pegged Roy and Hank with an irritated glare. "I'll tell you what's eating me.."

Marco piped up. "No, no, no..You mean what you're eating.." he quipped about Johnny's recent paper meal.

"Oh, ha ha.. Very funny." Gage shot at Lopez, shifting his chair closer to his plate so he could pick at his sandwich with a butter knife some more. "I'll tell you what's bugging me.." and his eyes narrowed in fine focus. "Do any of you know what day it is today?" he said, keeping his voice and profile low over his plate.

Hank coughed, wiped his mouth with a napkin, and replied.  
"You mean beyond the freaky runs we've been getting all day today since midnight?" he intoned with a straight face.

"Yeah, that's exactly what I mean.." Gage said,  
throwing a look at Marco, when his newspaper began to shake with his barely suppressed chortle.

"I have absolutely no idea.." Cap said calmly lacing his fingers together thoughtfully over his plate.

He immediately fell back to inhaling his sandwich.

Johnny cleared his throat and took another swig of anti-acid from his bottle. Then he set it down and leaned in confidentially to Roy and Cap. "It's our anniversary today.." he said, throwing a few fingers between Chet and himself, through a cracked side of his mouth..

"Anniversary for what?" Roy asked at a normal volume.

Johnny's fingers flew to his lips in animated quick warning and he hissed. "Shssstt.. He'll hear you.."

Hank's eyebrows crawled into his hairline in frank surprise at his most junior medic's off behavior. He,  
chewed more slowly while he waited for Roy to fathom him out.

Roy promptly did so. "Oh.." Roy said, throwing down his napkin onto his empty plate. "That anniversary.."  
he said in immediate sympathy.

"Yeah.. That one.." Johnny agreed animatedly, and he pegged alert, wary eyes right back on the B*ddha like countenance on Chet's meditating face.

Cap chewed once more and ordered. "Enlighten me,  
gentlemen, if you wouldn't mind."

Gage pantomimed an arching catapulting gesture from about his shoulder level down to the table top. He pretended that whatever had been "flung" landed on his own face in a disgusting liquid form, all without making a sound.

"Charades, huh?" Marco asked, finally peering over his paper, just catching on to the gist of what was going on across the table. He thoughtfully chewed on a wonderfully orange habanero pepper.

"I get it.. I'm good at this stuff. " Stoker piped up eagerly, before his superior could. "Cap, he must mean it's the anniversary of their Phantom water can war."

Gage's face flew open in shock at Stoker verbalizing his worry loud enough for Kelly to hear it and he froze in his seat as he checked Chet out for any sign of reaction.

None was forthcoming.

Slowly, Gage's face began to regain its color when Chet didn't move a millimeter where he was.

Henry didn't move either. He was still rivetted like a pointer,  
standing upright on the couch, still staring at Kelly's face,  
waiting for any further repeating of the funny noise from his human companion, that had awakened him earlier.

"Oh,, so that's why you're twitchy as a venter inside a gas leaking house." Cap grinned.

Gage sighed, and glanced at him in offended sheepishness.

Cap looked at Kelly once again where the Irishman was sitting easily in his calming pose and said. "I still don't see any problem here, Johnny. He doesn't seem to be doing anything odd, pal." he said in puzzlement.

"That's just it, Cap." Gage said, dropping his voice low into another secret whisper. "That's why I'm so nervous. And all the rest of you should get that way, too. Listen to this next bit closely. Just hear me out.." he insisted animatedly. "Have you ever known Chet to act straight laced and normal longer than two hours before?"

"Uhh...." Cap considered.

Gage cut him off. "See? You agree with me.." he interrupted hastily, casting watchful eyes back onto the immobile Chet across the room.  
"I know he's up to something.."

Roy got up and scooped up his plate and the one he now knew Johnny wasn't going to eat from anymore.  
"Maybe he just doesn't feel like joking around with ya right now. I mean, finding that OD's body like we did can throw anybody off their feed."

Johnny pegged Roy with a glower. "We see bodies all the time, and in worse shape than that one. Bogus point Roy. Chet's never skipped lunch because of a fatality retrieval, none of us have either, for that matter,  
now that I think about it. He's doing it because today is TODAY..." he insisted meaningfully.

Roy considered for several beats before he shook his head in dismissal as he began to fill the kitchen sink up gingerly with dish water and soap. "Suit yourself if ya want to worry. I can't help you there."

"Yes, you can! You can watch my back, Pal." Gage fired back.

"Can't, Junior. I already do that. It's in my job description."  
DeSoto replied, dead pan.

The rest of the gang chortled, all except the still composed Chet and the intensely worried, mesmerized Henry.

Finally, Henry had had enough and uncharacteristically,  
he abandoned the couch's folds and trucked,  
strangely, for the garage.

His reaction caught the whispering gang's attention and they stopped what they were doing, to watch him in amazement..

Roy shrugged. "Whatever's bothering you and Chet,"  
he commented to Johnny, "It must be catchy.." he summed up.

"Very funny.." Gage mumbled as he picked up a towel to help Roy dry the plates. "Henry's not even acting like Henry. I tell ya, this whole day's gone completely nuts and it's dragging us all down with it."

------------------------------------------------------

Henry was full of purpose. He panted heavily as he slowly jogged across the quiet vehicle bay to the far side wall where the tool locker was situated.

He spotted what he was looking for. The cord the gang had strung down for him from the rear garage opener switch so he'd have a means to go outside to the yard to relieve himself whenever they weren't there to do it for him.

His teeth yanked on the cord and he wormed his way underneath the door as it noisily climbed up its tracks and he paced determinedly to exactly the middle of the yard. He sat down on his haunches in the dust and he pointed his nose up to the sky and began to howl.

In the kitchen, the gang noticed him immediately.  
They all, minus Chet, crowded around the kitchen window to eye the spot mirror pointed into the back yard to see what Henry was doing. "What the heck?"  
Cap said. "Henry's acting like a wolf now, howling at the moon. Has the world gone mad? "

"Perhaps it's just you guys.." Chet declared in irritation at the noise interrupting his meditation. He unfolded his legs from the recliner's depths and clamoured to his feet long enough to pull his lace loosened shoes back on.  
"I'll be in the bunkroom, continuing where I left off.  
I don't wanna hear nothing except an arriving tones call in there while I'm busy doing it." he said quietly civil and he barreled passed them all on his way out.

Gage spun around a full ninety to avoid turning a vulnerable back towards Kelly as he departed. Only then did Johnny begin to relax.. "See what I mean? He's the height of oddness personified.."

No one else got the gist of what had Gage so up in arms. They were too busy concentrating on the strange sight of Henry caterwauling to the heavens out in the yard.

The basset hound's loud, anxiety tinged cries were only just heard over the sounds of the afternoon time rush hour traffic from the boulevard but they were loud enough to attract a little attention from the office workers in the building next door. Cap saw a few fingers peeking through the blinds exactly like they were doing.

Roy had a thought that came unbidden. ::If I didn't know any better, I'd swear Henry was sending out a message to the neighborhood network like the sheep dog did in One Hundred One Dalmations.::

Sure enough, an answering bark erupted from the Arco refinery watchdog from across the street. Henry fell into an intense listening pose in that direction.

So did the rest of the gang.

-  
Rampart was a mad house.

::Nothing dire. Mind you. Just a whole slew of irritating,  
putzy gomer cases littering my emergency department:  
Dixie McCall sighed in deep thought.

Her mouth was still dry in sympathic memory of the coffee she still couldn't track down anywhere, hospital wide.

She sighed and rubbed her forehead in fatigue until a grip on her shoulder made her shoot to her feet from her desk stool.

"Ahh!" she startled.

Kel Brackett froze, his left hand still grasping the air where her shoulder had been, his right, loaded with the newest non critical patient chart. "Easy, Dix... Don't hurt yourself. We've enough weird cases as it is today without handling any more from the staff."

"That's not very d*mned funny, Kel." Dix said with some genuine heat and no trace of a smile.

Kel smiled broadly. "Caffeine withdrawal going full swing? Sorry about not being able to procure any coffee from dietary for you. How was I to know that the supply truck from the city would hit the only pothole in Los Angeles and throw an axle?"

Dixie's eyes got back into focus from her fright.  
"So that's the reason why there isn't any coffee anywhere. It's driving me crazy seeing full cups in everyone else's hands but mine.." she said,  
plunking wearily back onto her seat and taking Kel's chart to file it away into her priority arranged turnstyle. "How'd you learn that latest tidbit?  
Can't say that news is making me feel any better."

"Sorry, Dix." Brackett grimaced. "The driver of the coffee truck's the man getting lip stitches in Treatment Three. He hit a hydrant after his axle cracked. 36 brought him in an hour ago and he told me so himself who he was."

Dixie began to groan, just thinking about it.  
"I thought I smelled coffee on his clothes taking his vital signs.. I thought I was hallucinating."

Dr. Brackett laughed before he could stop himself.

"D*mmit! This whole day is torture, Kel..." McCall moaned. "I honestly don't think I can take much more of it.."

Dr. Brackett slipped around her chair and gave Dix a hug, setting his chin on her head in a supportive bearhug from behind until a cat call whistle from a passing orderly broke them apart.

Dixie sighed at their being caught acting non nurse and doctor. "Thanks for the moral support, Kel." she said without luster. "I wish the rest of my staff would do more of the same for me."

"Been getting a little snarly through all this?"  
he said, indicating the barely controlled chaos of all the minor medical visitors waiting in the waiting room before them.

Dixie's long eye lashes blinked in barely suppressed guilt. "Just a little.."

"More like a LOT.." Carol the candy striper said as she bustled by with fifty charts Dixie had ordered her to take down to medical records.  
She staggered by. The heavily laden girl finally was rescued by a thoughtful Joe Early as they both got into the elevator headed to another floor.

Dixie winced as the metal elevator doors closed. "I deserved that."

"Never in a million years.." Kel denied, his face kind and warm. "Tell you what? I've got Dr. Bender covering for me for a half hour. How about I take a trip to Manny's down the road and order up a take out just for you. I can get the Cappucino Delight. Triple Order. To go."

Dixie's eyes lit up for the first time of the day.  
She was rendered mute in gratitude and her eyes misted. "ooHhhhhh.."

Kel gripped her hand and said, "Shh. No crying.  
You'll ruin your makeup job. I'm on my way now." and he peeled his labcoat off and laid it over the desktop followed by his steel stethoscope. "See you in twenty.." he said, making sure his pager was set to receive.

"You're an absolute saint, Kel."

"Call me that only when that hot little coffee's in your greedy little hand. Who knows with the luck we're having."

Dixie actually laughed. Once. Then her white uniformed back disappeared once more into the depths of a treatment room.

Dr. Brackett headed out into the bright daylight outside through the main emergency doors around the flood of bizarre minor emergency cases coming to the department by wheelchair, on foot or gurney. He shook his head in wonderment.  
::What a crazy day.:: he thought as he fingered his car keys he had drawn from his pocket.

He headed towards his tan Buick in its reserved spot in the auxillary parking lot next to the helicopter landing pad.

-  
Joe Early was remarkably unphased by the bustling weird day buzzing around him. He was his usual calm quiet self as he headed up to one particular patient room on the fifth floor after he helped a harried Carol to medical records with her tottering chart stack.

He eyeballed the correct room down the hall,  
grabbed the patient's chart from the nurse's desk from its turnstyle and shouldered into the well lit room after hearing a reply to his gentle knock on the door.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Photo: Dix and Kel talking over lunch.

Photo: Henry peeking over the side of the couch.

Photo: Chet in the middle of enjoying a joke in action, taking notes.

Photo: Joe Early looking calm and amused in closeup.

Photo: Roy and Johnny peeking through the closed kitchen door.

Photo: Aerial of Rampart in black and white.

Photo: The gang standing outside in the side drive leading to the yard.

*  
From: "rampartbase" Date: Thu May 8, 2003 10:02 pm Subject: "Slippery When Wet!"

There should been a sign by the nurses desk that said "Slippery When Wet." Kel thought as he slipped on a piece of ice that had been dropped by the nurses desk, crashing into it. Luckily, no bones were broken. Somehow, with the nutty day that they'd been having, it had gone unseen.

They had a number of strange and unusual cases. They had people come in because they thought they were about to get sick, then did. There was a man who broke his toe after kicking a car tire at a car dealer. It was just a generally weird day all around.

-------------------------------------

Photo: None.

*  
From :"Cassidy Meyers" Subject : The Overhaul Incident.. Date :Mon, 12 May 2003 03:35:45 +0400 "Come in..." came a New York accent through the door.

Dr. Early went into the room with the chart at his side.  
"Hello there. I'm Dr. Early. Dr. Brackett asked me to stop on by to review your post angioplasty film that you had done this morning."

The dark haired man of sixty sat up a little higher in the bed with an air of making himself presentable.

"No, don't sit up. You still have a fresh puncture site to worry about."

"Oh, yeah. Right , doc." said the man.

Joe extended a hand out to the patient he was sent to consult with in a gesture of welcome.

"Glad to make your acquaintance. I'm Charlie. How ya doin?"

"Fine. Fine. Downstairs is a little like a madhouse but nothing out of the ordinary." Joe thought a bit about that remark and amended. "No, that's not quite right. Everything today is out of the ordinary but who's complaining?" chuckled Dr. Early.

"Not me, doc." said the man. "They've been treatin me real fine. I was nervous there for a while when they told me I wasn't gonna be asleep for that angio...angio picture thing with that balloon thingy in my chest. But it's over. Heh. And I'm feeling real good now. I lived through it."

"That was the intent." laughed Joe.

"Don't I know it?" said Charlie.

Charlie let Joe check over the area where he had had the angio catheter inserted and let the doctor lift up the gauze dressing taped there to check for signs of seepage.

Joe's face fell a little bit and he opened the chart one more time to look at the diagnosis that both he and Kel Brackett had agreed was the inevitable one.

Charlie's rugged stubbled face took on a hint of dread as he realized that his news may not be the happy ones that he had anticipated.  
"Say, doc? Uh,.. what's da matter? If ya have ta give it to me straight, I can take it.  
I haven't been a fire department mechanic working in the busiest district in the state for nothin, you know.. Don't sugar coat it.  
Just tell me whatever it is."

"Charlie. Your initial prognosis is excellent.  
The two coronary arteries we found that were narrowed have successfully been cleared with the angioplastic procedure. You'll have no more trouble with that angina and we can discontinue your regular course of nitro glycerin. You won't be needing it anymore from this point forward. "

"That doesn't sound too scary, doc. So, uh,  
why the long face here?" Charlie frowned.

"Well, your heart's now fixed with those two partially blocked off arteries being fully repaired, but we found that your arteriosclerosis is fairly well advanced in other areas of your body. Your shortness of breath you get while exerting yourself at work is due to narrowing of other arteries in your lungs. That, we can't fix. The underlying structures there don't favor the usual angioplastic routes."

A sick dread began to grip Charlie and his post surgical EKG sped up a bit as he fretted. "What?"  
he joked. "Does that mean I'm gonna die tomorrow?"

Joe tried to chuckle lightly with a smile to reassure his worried patient. "No, you can look forward to decades more of good cardiovascular functioning.  
But I'm afraid you're going to have to come up with a means to reduce your stress levels. Immediately.  
We barely have your hypertension under control with your usual medications and already they are at the top end of what's safe to utilize."

Charlie knew right away what the doctor was angling at. He had figured it out in one mind numbing realization. "Doc.. are you saying that I'm gonna haveta give up the one thing that makes my world complete? That uh, I have to ... retire from the workplace?"

Joe looked down and rubbed the rings on his hands thoughtfully in regret and he sighed while he put together the right words to say. "I'm afraid so, Charlie. There isn't a miracle cure for your stage of hypertension. In fact, it may not take much in your future to really raise your chances of having a cerebral vascular accident."

"A what?" Charlie asked, rubbing his dry lips.  
Then he reached over to his cup of ice cubes and took some in to wet his mouth to moisten it.

"A CVA. In layman's terms, a stroke."

Charlie laughed nervously and loud and he readjusted the blanket back over himself following Joe's cursory exam of his catheter puncture site.  
"You've got to be kidding. I thought that those blood thinners and that aspirin a day my regular doctor prescribed, solved all that."

"They helped. But that course of treatment unfortunately doesn't cure the underlying cause. You're getting older now. And your particular case will only advance.  
Even though it's very slowly. It's time to start kicking down into lower gear as you mechanics like to say."

Charlie sobered and fell still, struggling to fight his emotions over finding out that his life long career was now suddenly, quietly, over.  
Then he looked up with a vulnerable smile.  
"What uh, just what can I tell the wife, doc?  
She's gonna flip over this. It's not like we need the income. It's just that I won't know.. what to do with myself, ya know?"

Joe nipped that line of thinking in the bud.  
"It's not the end of the world. There are a lot of people who've been in your shoes. And I'm not afraid to tell you that I'm one of them."

"Really, doc? Not you.. heh. You look as healthy as an ox and you're still workin.." he exclaimed.

"Yes, I'm working but my occupation is not the kind of job that exacerbates my history with arteriosclerosis. I can still work. But only in moderation. I gave up my position as head ER doc a few years ago. Kel Brackett took over for me while I was recovering and he's still serving in that position. Your life isn't over,  
Charlie. Not by a long shot. You're just going to have to make a few adjustments, that all, that will take some getting used to. But you'll work it all out before you know it." Joe encouraged.

"Yeah, doc.. But retirin? Sheesh." Charlie scoffed. "That's for old folks. Or really sick ones." he said in a soft sigh.

"Charlie, think about it. Your overall condition,  
if anything, has improved. Greatly. That angioplasty you underwent this morning was a complete success. You have gone a step forward, not backwards." Joe said with a gentle smile. "You should know. Life always changes. And that can be a blessing in disguise sometimes even if we don't realize it right away. And your whole changing situation here is no exception. Your time as an active on duty mechanic may be over, but that doesn't mean that you have to stop hanging around your old haunts like you usually do."

"Say, doc.. That's a lightbulb of an idea. I really like that. A lot. You're giving me some dandies already.."  
Charlie chuckled. "I'm gonna go see EVERYone,  
first thing, when I get released in an hour. That's ah, only if you allow it with this groin stick and all." Charlie fussed, gesturing to his waist level.

"It's ok.." Joe laughed. "You'll be fully recovered from lunch by then. Sorry for that casserole. It usually has some coffee with it that makes it palatable,  
but we're currently fresh out. Your catheter puncture will be fully clotted in about half an hour."

"Good. Cause Charlie the mechanic's got people to see. Places to go. Know what I mean?"

"Yeah.. I know what you mean.." Joe said.

----------------------------------------------------------

Dr. Brackett had long abandoned his grid locked car along the margin of the freeway for a phone.

"Dix? Yeah, it's Kel." he held the receiver away from his ear when he heard his head nurse start to moan about her coffeeless state and question about his now long overdue ETA. "Sorry, Dix.  
Traffic jam. Probably another fog pile up by Long Beach. You know how are these traffic snarls can back up around here. I'm gonna haveta take the rest of the night off. Would you inform Doctor Bender that I won't be coming in?" he asked.  
"Thanks. You're a doll. I promise I'll get some coffee to ya sooner rather than later. Tonight."

Kel hung up the payphone at the Shell station and wandered back to his car for the long wait for the jam to clear out.

--------------------------------------------------------

Charlie the mechanic knew the best ways to sneak up on firehouses when firemen least expected it.  
It was a habit he had developed so he could really see the wear and tear the guys inflicted on his beloved vehicles.

He let himself in with his master key through the rear door and he stealthily saundered across the garage.

First thing, his eye fell on Squad 51's tires, checking for curb scuffs from all the sudden stops she had to make during each run. "There, you go, sweetie." he said, patting Squad 51's hood while another finger swept over her front grill chrome looking for grime.

"Looks like my tyrannical temper tantrums are finely having an effect, aren't they? Your wheels are perfect darlin ! Your chrome, too. But there's no way in Hades that I'm ever gonna stop blowing off steam on your behalf at those crazy firemen. You deserve the best and don't you ever forget it. I'll make sure the new guy learns that lesson quick." Charlie said.

A voice from the far side of the bay echoed through the high rafters overhead. "Charlie? Is that you?  
I thought I heard your voice.." said Captain Stanley as he exited his office door. He immediately noticed Charlie, not wearing his department uniform.  
"It's your day off? I thought you had a double inspection load on Wednesdays." Cap frowned.

"Yeah, well. I've got some news there." Charlie said circumspect and suddenly serious. "Looks like I'll have a whole lotta days off from now on.."

Cap wasn't surprised, for he had been on the rescue call that went out for Charlie a week ago for heightened chest pain. "So, it's come to that, eh?  
Your ticker ok?" he said casually inquiring.

"Oh, yeah. The docs at Rampart fixed the plumbin real fine. I'm good to go. But I gotta get out of the fast lane they've been telling me."

"Retirement?" Cap asked.

"Yeah.. Hate that word. Makes me sound like I'm being put out ta pasture.." Charlie said, reaching for a back pocket that no longer held an oily rag.  
He stopped himself before he was too obvious in his reaction about being out of uniform. "So, I uh, hope ya don't mind me comin over to say goodbye ta the guys like this. Heh. Seeing my beauties I'd done anyway." he said throwing a careless hand at the Ward and Squad behind them. "Had to check up one more time on my babies. I had ta come back.. Know what I mean?"

"Yeah, I know what you what mean.." Cap grinned.  
"How about coming in for a cup of coffee? Stoker brews a mean pot."

"Nope. No more coffee. Doc's orders. But I could sure use some of that clam chowder I smell on the stove. Must be yours cause the cream's not overpowering the clams there."

Cap ducked his head at the compliment. "Glad someone appreciates my chowder.  
I thought that Joe Early was my only chowder fan."

"Yeah? Well add one more. Me.." Charlie said jerking a thumb at his chest.  
"Take me to your chowder." he joked.

"You know the way.." Hank beamed.

-  
Men from three firehouses turned up for Charlie's retirement party that his bosses threw at his old workplace only five hours after Charlie was discharged from Rampart.

Only Cap, Johnny and Roy and Chet could find replacements for themselves to be able to attend, but Cap felt that his three from Station 51 was a good showing considering the high density of runs that usually came during that part of summer. As for himself, he wouldn't have missed Charlie's final send off for the world. He still remembered the days when HE was cringing during one of Charlie's tune up inspections as a regular fireman. He knew he was going to miss Charlie more than he realized.

"And this, is the main repair bay. Where we fix all the damage you boys do to the engines.." Charlie said, his voice rising higher and higher in a familar tirade. He stopped himself before his blood pressure shot too high. "Oops.. gotta watch myself. Well, you know the speech. Ain't gonna preach to the choir here. I'm a free man!"

Cheers erupted from the three groups of station firefighters mingling in with station 51's four.

Charlie shot them all a suspicious look when he couldn't tell whether the guys were cheering for his newly liberated state, or the fact that they wouldn't be cringing over any of his hundred proof lectures anymore. "Hey! Pipe it down.. There are working joes over there. They can't hear themselves think over that kind of racket."

The firefighters quieted down and continued eating their cake and vanilla ice cream.

Chet's mouth was still hanging open. His eyes were still bugging out at the long row of cracked open fire engine chassis that were angled up on hoists away from their motor assemblies from the rigs lined up next to them, in the huge space surrounding the party tables.

Charlie noticed. "What? Did you think I worked in a three pump mom and pop gas station on the corner? This joint's the size of a small airport!"  
Charlie said proudly.

He proceeded to lecture to his hungrily eating captive audience on how, his long and varied career as an FD mechanic, began.

He finished with an historic account of how his plans had been turned into blueprints and then later eventuality with the construction of the half mile long pit stop facility that Los Angeles County now used for all of its vehicle maintenance.

Johnny Gage swiped some cake crumbs off of his dress uniform tie and mumbled from the corner of his mouth to Cap. "Say, does this mean we can slack off a little on vehicle detail? "

Cap grimaced. "Eeooww. This is awful.." looking down at his paper cup and then just as quick at something over the heads of all the retirement party guests.

"The coffee?" Johnny asked.

"No, you twit, the squad! I can see the soot on her windshield from here.." Cap said.

Roy and Johnny then realized that maybe they wouldn't be getting off scot free so easily with Charlie's departure from active duty.

Roy leaned over and said. "Wanna bet Cap'll have us polishing by sundown after we get back to the station?"

"No bet.." Johnny sighed.

------------------------------------------------------

Dr. Brackett was just turning onto Curson Avenue near sundown, when his emergency services CB radio, went off.

##Eeeee OOooo EEeeeeeee.. Station 51. Unknown type rescue. 5801 Wilshire Blvd. Cross street Curson. 5801 Wilshire Blvd. Cross street Curson. Time out, 18: 12.##

::That's only a block from here.:: Kel thought.

He turned his wheel towards a new construction site he could see to his left.

::Maybe I can help out some..::

--------------------------------------------------------

Photo : Charlie the mechanic and Johnny out in the yard.

Photo : A row of crack hooded Crowns at LACoFD repair facility.

Photo : Outside the maintenance bays by gas pumps.

Photo: Johnny and Roy table sitting.

*  
From : "patti keiper" Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] Samaritan Snare.. Date : Tue, 13 May 2003 13:39:17 +0000 Acknowledgements to

Lt. Stuart C. Burrows Hazardous Materials Team Coordinator Paramus Fire Dept., NJ for the information about natural kerosene risks..

-  
Dr. Brackett made good time down the weaving road. He saw a man, full of black ooze leaning heavily against a parking lot post. He was obviously the one sent out to intercept the responding fire unit to show them where the emergency was.

Kel made sure his car was out of the way of any hydrants, against a fence line off the road and he leaped out of his car, rolling up his sleeves. He grabbed a folded blanket he had in the back seat from a basket of clean laundry he had there. "I'm Dr. Brackett. I heard there was trouble out here needing the fire department. Are you hurt?"

The gasping, soaked man coughed. "No.. I'm fine."  
he said, as Kel grasped him around the shoulders.

"Sit down here. I'll watch for them." Dr. Brackett said. "Here. This will help warm you up." he said,  
wrapping his blue blanket around the man. "What happened?" he said trying to find where the trouble was near them by turning in a circle and looking.

"It's the pit. Pit number 91. I'm on an excavation crew. *cough* I don't understand it. The construction team told us the supports were strong enough. E..I-I.  
the whole wall caved in on Aragorn, the lead archaeologist.  
She was working on an incredible Bicus Gravus.."

"A what?" Dr. Brackett said, watching the exhausted man gather his strength back. He tried not to think what was covering the man. Already, his own clothes were black and sticky. "Just take it easy. Help's on the way. Who's with Aragorn right now? Anyone else involved?"

"No.. I.. Half of us left because of the danger but half stayed with her. I don't know for sure.."

Dr. Brackett was ready when the man suddenly blacked out. He caught him and carefully lowered his head to the grass. He set his hand on the man's shivering stomach to monitor his ragged breathing.

In the distance he could hear the sound of approaching sirens and it wasn't long before Station 51 screeched up to the curb by his side.

Chet Kelly bailed out of his seat, opening the side door of the Ward and into a miasma of stench. "What is that smell?!" he said, covering his nose.

Marco was equally effected and both Kelly and Lopez's eyes located what appeared to be a small lake at the foot of a white highrise bank on the other side of the partially constructed parking lot. They could just see rising steam coming from it and could hear a loud copious mass bubbling.

Before they could wonder further, they spotted their first concern. Two people smeared in black gel like stuff a short distance away.

Stoker commented. "Smells like asphalt." Mike theorized, not even slowing down as he hit the anchor feet switches on the engine to ready her for hose work. He kicked a board under each piston as it lowered to the concrete.

Captain Stanley shot out of the cab after announcing his company's arrival to the scene to L.A. "Good call Stoker.  
This might be a chemical spill. String some hose, long enough to reach that partially built building over there. But don't prime it yet. Not until we know exactly what we're dealing with here." He took an experimental sniff, relying on instinct to make a judgement call. "Skip the SCBA for now. This stuff doesn't seem caustic."  
Then he paused in his tracks. "Dr. Brackett?" he exclaimed when he realized just who was with the only victim in eyeshot. He tersely waved Marco to go get the spare O2 apparatus from the engine's side compartment.  
"Whatcha got, doc? Johnny! Roy! Man down. Over here.  
Skip the resuscitator. I had Lopez grab ours."

He watched his two paramedics nod and scramble to get their equipment. He noticed them making faces at the stench in the air but they remained all business.

The Rampart physician looked up from his unconscious patient and he rubbed his nose with his forearm to avoid getting some dark gunk that was covering his hands, onto his face. "He's fine. Just fainted. His pulse's strong and regular. He said there was a cave-in somewhere nearby.." Kel said. "In a location called Pit 91.  
Sounded like it was an archaeological dig or something."

"Need anything more than this?" Hank asked as Marco plunked down the O2 cylinder and rack and got out a clear flowing O2 mask for the limp man.

"Nah.." Kel said, seeing Roy and Johnny rushing over from the squad, heavily laden. "Johnny and Roy have everything I'm gonna need."

"Ok." Cap sighed in relief. He cast his head about, looking for a likely spot for a cave in. He then noticed a sign saying,'Page Museum, opening June, 1977. Come see a Woolly Mammoth.'

A vague memory tickled the back of his mind and a word came up into recall, unbidden. "La Brea.." he mumbled.

"What?" Dr. Brackett said, making sure the O2 was securely over the man's nose and mouth. He gave a few orders for Roy and Johnny to get primary info and to look for some ID for any possible medical history clues.  
He nodded when Johnny and Roy verbalized the man's vitals to him.

Hank swiped off some of the dark smears on Kel's sleeves and lifted it to his nose.. "Tar Pits..." he added to his earlier comment. "Doc, I think I know what the trouble is now. It's all falling into place.." Cap got on his HT, and thumbed it so all his men could hear him. "Just identified the chemical smell, all. It's methane, and kerosene on top of asphalt. This place must be a newly rising museum over the site called the La Brea Tar Pits. Heard about it last year. Under no circumstances are you to run any water on any open flames burning on the stuff. It'll be useless since kerosene floats. When we find the scene, go in dry. But watch for any signs of fire. That lake can burn regardless." ##10-4. ## Cap heard from Marco and Chet and Johnny as they scrambled to get the work done.

Cap noticed Dr. Brackett just itching to do more from where he was crouched over the fainted man. "I can watch him, doc, until the ambulance arrives. Go with Johnny and Roy and my other men to see what's up if you'd like. They'll watch your back."

"Think I'll do that. He should be waking up any time."  
the doctor said to Cap as they exchanged places crouching by the man's head."He's starting to move a little."

Johnny and Roy took Cap's cue to move on with the main rescue scene assessment as he threw a hand towards the quiet, scaffoulding covered building next to the bubbling lake of tar.

Chet was still gagging on the oily stench filling the air.  
He mumbled under his breath. "Sure you don't want us to have masks on, Cap?"

Hank jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "Just go.."  
with a half annoyed, half amused smile.

Kelly went."I'm gone.."

He was only two steps behind Johnny, Roy and Kel as they hastened with belts and ropes towards the building Cap had indicated. They were running across a sidewalk over looking the tar pit "lake" when they heard a shout.

"Down here! Please! Hurry.."

Gage said, "Hold it. Hold it.." when he heard the cry.

They all leaned over the concrete railing of the bridge above the writhing moat and peered over the edge.

Kel Brackett coughed as a wind gust drove more stench into his lungs. "There!" he shouted pointing downwards.

They could just see another oil slicked scientist type on the lower level of the museum, through the windows gesturing wildly for their attention.

Roy shouted. "All right! We see ya. Just hang on.  
We're coming down!" he shouted to the man urgently pounding on the glass to get their attention.

The oily figure disappeared back the way he had come into the dark interior of the museum's lower level.

Gage looked about for any sign of stairs. There were none. Just a steeply dropping off shoreline at the edges of the tar pit. "We don't have time to look for stairs. Roy, why don't we try repelling down to the windows and breaking through.."

"Sounds like a good plan to me.." Roy said, belting up. He lifted his hand held radio. "HT 51 to Engine 51."

##Go ahead, Ht 51.##

"There's someone flagging us down on the lower level of the museum, right next to the tar lake. We need the squad to anchor repelling gear from a concrete bridge."

##10-4, 51. Lopez is on his way with it. I'm sending Stoker with him.##

Dr. Brackett fidgetted as he paced back and forth.  
"Not much I can do from here."

"Oh, yes you can.." Johnny said. "You can help Marco keep the lines from fraying on the concrete here once Roy and I go over.." he said slapping the concrete railing. He peeled off his coat. "Here, doc. Use my coat for that."

"Right.." Kel said, understanding the plan immediately.

Gage kept talking. "Chet, rig a line for yourself. You're coming along.. It's gonna take three of us to get anyone who's stuck in this goop out of that cave in."

Kelly's face widened in surprise when he realized that he would be dangling over the surface of the methane boiling tar pit. "Sounds like fun." he said unenthusiastically.

Lopez arrived with the squad, backing her up until her rear bumper was next to the turnout coat draped railing. He quickly helped Johnny, Roy and Chet secure their lifelines to it with pulleys and figure eight knots.

"Need the stokes?" Marco asked Roy.

"Yeah, and send down just the O2 for now. We still haven't seen where to go yet.." DeSoto replied.

"I'll get it set.."

Johnny was the first over the edge of the concrete bridge.  
"Gimme some more slack!" he shouted up as the firemen and Kel on the bridge slowly hand over handed him down over the lake. Gage twisted around until he was able to kick off a bridge piling far enough to grab an exposed plastic pipe over the "beach". He untied his line, hurrying to the window.

Roy quickly followed, doing the same thing. And then it was Chet's turn. Kelly wasn't so agile with his repelling and his gloves slipped on the way down.

"Chet! Look out!" Gage shouted in warning.

Kelly landed with a splash into the tar pit up to his chest. "Aghhh!! Get me out of here before I sink!" Chet flailed. He rapidly began to sink under the lake's surface, to his chin, to his flaring nostrils.

Roy yelled. "Marco. Toss me down his belt line!"

Lopez hastily flung the second rope to Johnny and Roy so they could pull Chet out.

Gage shouted. "Chet, quit moving or you'll go under.."

Chet choked on fumes and ignored him.

His curly helmeted head disappeared under the surface.

"Chet!" Kel Brackett shouted from above.

Marco got on his HT. "Cap! Kelly fell in. He's in trouble!"

## I'll be right there! Calling in another station!##

Johnny and Roy gasped as they struggled heavily to pull on the rope to drag Chet to shore.

They got a hand on his belt and hauled him up onto the black edged loam and firm ground and log rolled him over.

Chet coughed and sputtered. "Gah!! *cough*"

Roy and Johnny both ran hasty fingers over Chet's nose and mouth to clear away the thick tar covering his face until he could breathe again.

Gage grabbed his head, lifting his upper body up to help him. "Can you breathe ok now?" he said, pulling off Chet's dripping helmet.

Chet didn't say anything as he gagged over and over again. Then he sucked in a huge lungful of air and nodded.

Roy and Johnny helped him to his feet.  
"Ok, let's figure out how to best crack this window pane to get inside."

The best method turned out to be crude but very effective. Kelly flung a fossil filled shore rock at the twenty foot by fifty foot museum window.

A loud musical explosion of glass flooded their sandy beach as the window came apart.

Roy, Chet and John wasted no time getting inside. They untied their lifelines and accepted new coiled ones ringed tossed down to them by Marco and they rushed inside the lower level after knocking away any more lingering shards with their helmets.

The rope lowered O2 and stokes, quickly followed.

They immediately found Pit 91. It was surrounded by orange helmeted scientists fretting over another unconscious woman who was buried neck deep in newly oozing tar. Gage shouted. "How deep is it?"

Another gasping exhausted archeologist understood immediately when his other co workers didn't reply right away.  
"The lowest digging section drops only three feet."

Johnny jumped in and helped the panicking scientists encircling her to hold her face out of the ooze. It was slimy, hard work and it took all of them. "Hand me the O2, guys. All this stuff's pressing in on her chest. She's suffocating."

Chet Kelly handed down the positive pressure mask and an oral airway pack.

Gage immediately began using them while Marco and Roy rigged another rope set up and belt for the woman to a concrete pillar near them for an anchor point.

Johnny gasped. "The rest of you get out of here.  
It's too dangerous for you to stay. That wall may give in more and you're not tied onto a rope." he ordered. "She's gonna be ok. I got her."

The tar covered archeologists accepted Chet and Roy's hands to climb out of the fossil excavation pit.

Kel Brackett and Cap made a sudden appearance.  
"Kelly, you ok?" Hank asked when he finally decided who was the right slimy body to ask.

"Yeah, Cap. I'm fine. But the woman's not. She's getting crushed by all that tar pouring in. She's gotta be dragged out. Now. Johnny down there can hardly ventilate her." Chet replied. He looked almost comical, being all shiny black except for his eyes and teeth.

Bracket had planned ahead. He had helped lug all the medical gear down the front ramp they had found with the guidance of an archeologist witness and he already had laid out advanced suctioning equipment. "Johnny, how's she doing?"

Gage spat as a splash of tar hit him in the face. He angled his helmet to deflect the new stream away from himself and the woman.  
"She's still got a carotid. Although it's stressed.  
I'm getting air in but I can't tell if it's doing any good. Her color's hidden."

"Trust what you feel. I got suction set.  
We'll do an airway sweep once she's up here.  
Any C spine injuries?"

All nine tarry hard hatted archeologists milling about the rescue team shook their heads.

"She didn't fall." one of them said. "That glop only gushed in and pinned her.."

"Ok.." Cap said. "Get that belt on, ASAP. We'll haul her out the fastest way possible." he said, leaning over the edge of the excavation site. He blinked when he realized his coat arm was leaning on a sabre tooth tiger skull. He startled and took it off immediately. He tried not to look at what fossilized bones his shoes were standing on.

It took ten of them to break the suction of the tar holding the unconscious scientist's legs pinned.

She finally pulled free with a hollow slurp and her limp body was carefully guided up the wall,  
with many hands supporting her O2, head and airway.

Kel immediately got out a laryngoscope for a peek after he jerked her oral airway free. Roy helped hold her into the right position for the exam with one hand while the other stayed on her neck to monitor her carotid.  
It was difficult work, the tile museum floor made the surface under them slippery and they were all forced to stay on their splayed knees for balance.

Dr. Brackett said, "She's got some tar in her right bronchial tree. But she's not obstructed that badly." He quickly suctioned out what he could and withdrew the scope. "Roy.." he said unnecessarily as the blond headed paramedic began to ventilate her once again on the O2 to compensate for the lost time they weren't breathing for her.

Brackett began snapping out orders for a more secure type of airway and a precautionary IV.  
"She's gonna need a pulmonary flushing when we get into Rampart."

"Is Maureen going to make it?" one concerned tar blackened archeologist asked.

Kel's mouthed twitched into a smile.  
"Yeah, I think so. The only hurdle will be that secondarly pneumonia. Doesn't look like she was poisoned too much from any methane.  
I didn't see any tracheal burns."  
Then he noticed another skull firmly gripped in the scientist's grasp. "You can relax now, sir.  
Maureen's perfectly safe."

The shell shocked archeologist suddenly blinked and realized what the doctor was looking at. "Oh.. uh, this is a closed mouthed sabre tooth head. Very rare. It was what Maureen was tugging at when the wall gave way. She'll kill me if she wakes up and I don't have it." he remarked.

"Let's get her bundled up and out of here."  
Cap grinned.

Soon, it was done.

-  
Dixie McCall's eyes bugged out in sheer horror when she saw three tar black figures arrive onto her newly waxed ER department floor. "Oh, no.  
she sighed. "Treatment Q.." she amended, thinking fast. That was the nearest room to the entryway portal. ::It's also a quarantine room. No doubt we're gonna need that negative air pressure in there to control the stench. Yuck:  
she thought, holding one hand over her nose.  
"Nice choice of cologne.." she teased Kel out loud as he helped Roy push the gurney inside as Gage bag valved breathed for the woman. She literally jumped when she spotted a slimy skull on the woman's stomach when she attempted to lay eyes on the area to get a respirations count for Kel while they moved her.  
"Ahhh!" McCall screeched. She rocked back on her heels, controlling her reactions.

Kel grinned toothily through his stinky slime.  
"It's a souvenir, Dix.. Don't you like it?"  
and he picked up the long fanged skull and clapped its gaping jaws open and shut in her face once or twice.

She glared at him. "I'd rather it have been a can of fresh Columbian coffee grounds." she said icily.

Then she held an admonishing finger up to the two medics getting a set of vitals using equipment she couldn't distinguish from them because of all the tar. "You boys'd better plan on abandoning all that stuff.  
Including your clothes. Environmental will flay me alive if I allowed you to carry that ...that that...."

"Million year old fossilized tar?" Kel offered helpfully.

"Thank you.." Dix sputtered. "..that tar any further into the hospital. I'll requisition a complete new vitals kit for the squad and scrubs for you all right now." She gingerly moved around a puddle of ooze so she wouldn't get any onto her polished white nurse shoes as she took a step towards the ER phone.

Right then, Kel's nose finally had had enough of all the fumes and he sneezed powerfully, raining a mist of fine tarry black all across Dixie's back.

His face fell open in instant mortification when she hunched up her shoulders and froze the second she realized the stench in the room was somehow, now attached......to her.

----------------------------------------------------------

It was an hour later, a shower reddened doubled scrubbed set of paramedics met Dixie at her desk in the ER each carrying a small bundle wrapped in abdominal dressings. They paused as they all considered the reason why all three were wearing surgical garb.  
Then Dixie said, "What are those? "she asked cautiously.  
"If they're fossilized skulls. I don't wanna see them."

Gage laughed. "These are just our badges and name tags, Dix. It's gonna take a whole lotta turpentine to clean these up. Cap's stood the whole station down for the rest of the afternoon, while we...detar ourselves and the vehicles."

Roy sighed. "Well, there's a bit of a miracle working here.  
Charlie's not gonna see the mess we made of them."

Johnny rolled his eyes in dread. "Oh, but you better believe he'll eventually find out about it through the department grapevine. Then there will be H*ll to pay for sure.."

Dixie smiled craftily from her paperwork she was filling out to add a new set of stethoscopes, BP cuffs and laryngoscopes for the squad's vitals kit to go along with the airways and IV's they had used. "Sort of like the H*ll I have to pay for trashing the quarantine treatment room on a hospital inspection day?"

Johnny's face fell in instant sympathy. "Oh, tell me that wasn't today.."

"It was today.." Dixie parroted in weariness as she massaged her forehead.

"Ooo," Johnny sucked through his teeth. "Well,  
next time the bunch of us falls into the LaBrea Tar Pits, I'll be sure to ask Brackett to reroute us to Mercy General instead of Rampart."

"You're all heart.." Dixie said, without looking up. She made a face of disgust when she found tar, under one of her fingernails. "I hate to think what's rotted in this stuff." she said, hastily wiping the ooze away from her nail, not caring if her finger nail polish came away with it.

Roy answered. "I think there was a museum display in there above us that said the pits contained millions of animals.. all from the Ice Age.."

"Terrific.. and all I want is a can of java from the Modern one.." she grumbled.

Johnny and Roy began to smile when they saw Vince, come to watch the very valuable sabre tooth's skull, arrive from down the hall with a laden brown paper bag in one arm. They glanced at each other in satisfaction and didn't say anything as the husky dark skinned officer harrumphed in his throat to get Dixie's attention from her paperwork.

When she looked up, she noticed the bag in front of her. "What's this?"

"Kelly Brackett asked me to pick this up for the main ER desk. Said something about needing it to control a possible caffeine withdrawal outbreak among the hospital staffers here.." he said straight faced.

Dixie's hands shot out and she ripped away the paper.. "Coffee?!! Ohmyg*d.. I'll be right back.."  
and Dixie danced away from the desk eagerly heading for the coffee lounge. "I--I.. thank you.  
uh, thank Kel.. Uh.. oh, Vince? Don't go..Stay right there and I'll come back with mugs enough for all of you..!"

McCall almost shouldered another staffer onto his butt when he kiddingly tried to take the rare covetted can from her grasp as he walked by.

-------------------------------------------------------

Roy and Johnny walked into the station washroom where Chet was picking his wet curly hair carefully into shape while looking in the big mirror.

Gage made a show of walking up to him and sniffing.  
"Hmm. Hey Chet, is that Ode de Swamp I'm smelling?  
It's very becoming.. "

"Very funny, Gage.. Can't say that you and your smirking partner here smell any better..We had to scrub out the engine cab almost as much as you guys did the squad's. Cap's already tee'd that it's gonna take two hours for the three of us to get new turnout gear and helmets sent to us from headquarters." he broke off when Johnny pulled out a small slate colored object from his uniform pocket. "What's that?"

"A fossilized Dire Wolf tooth. The museum project head coordinator was so grateful we rescued his best scientist from Pit 91, that he sent a box of fossils to the station just now for us to divide amongst ourselves."

"Oh, then you won't mind sharing.." and Kelly snatched for the fang.

Gage whipped it away before Chet's grab got there. "Ah, ah ah.. Go get your own.. This is for my tribal prayer sack. My aunt always used to say a token earned doing a heroic deed is very powerful medicine...." then he blinked.  
"Better hurry.. Marco was shovelling up the rest of the wolf teeth when I left the kitchen."

"What?! Why didn't ya tell me sooner, pal?  
Thanks a lot.." and Chet Kelly ran out of the room.

Roy chuckled and leaned over to shut off the water Chet had left running in the sink. "You're cruel, you know that Johnny." he grinned. "You could have told him that ALL the fossils were the more common Dire Wolf parts."

"Yeah, but where's the fun for us in that?  
This way we got to watch him rabbit outta here."  
he said with a sideways grin. "It'll dry his hair a little faster."

Roy rolled his eyes. "Come on, Junior. You can point out the skulls and parts you think my kids will like the best."

"All right, Pally. I know good totems when I see them. Maybe now, our luck with the crazy day we've been suffering will change for the better."

-  
Photo : Engine 51 and squad 51 on a run.

Photo : A tar covered victim.

Photo : Lake of tar by a white high rise bank.

Photo : Tar pit by a concrete pathway bridge.

Photo : The inside of an under construction museum.

Photo : Chet Kelly in his jacket.

Photo : A close up of the slime in the LaBrea Tar Pits.

Photo : Pit 91 Excavation and hard hatted diggers.

Photo : Firemen struggling to pull a victim out of slime.

Photo : Dixie making an embarrassed face.

Photo : Two cans of Folgers coffee.

From: "Fran" and a little bird.  
Subject : Three Dogs and a Cat.  
Date : May 16th, 2003 20:29:07 CST

Cap had picked up three wolves teeth just to look at them in horrified fascination.  
"You guys are nuts , you know that?  
I wouldn't want a million years old piece of dental tissue anywhere near me."

"Come on, Cap. These are rare glimpses into history, man. They aren't bones. They're mineral deposits that bone left behind..Anybody who's anybody knows that." Kelly said, eyeballing two of the longest fossil fangs he could find out of the museum box. "These will go great with my shark's teeth. The chicks'll really dig em.."

Lopez just rolled his eyes.

Stoker didn't even look up from the sports page of his newspaper.

The two of them left Cap to squirm on Kelly's questionably deep analysis.

Hank said. "I know these aren't real. They just have to look real. And for your reference,  
my squeamishness isn't coming from me. It's my wife rubbing off."

"Blame it on the wife. Sure.. We all know your hidden phobias.. Inspection days.  
Doctors...Sore hands that are unexplained.."  
Chet remarked.

Cap didn't dignify Kelly's jab with a comment.  
He just tossed the wolves teeth back into the middle of the table and he got up to wash his hands thoroughly with soap.

"Don't you think you're going a little bit over board with the fossil phobia..?"  
Kelly said, relentlessly pursuing Cap.

Hank deflected masterfully. "An hour ago you were eating fossils according to Johnny and Roy. And I can't imagine all that ancient goo tasted very good." he said scrubbing his fingers with some steel wool.

"You got that right." Kelly said. "I think I'll be smelling that tar stuff in my moustache for at least a week. But getting back onto the subject. These beauties you're passing up don't stink.." he said, gesturing to the fossils the gang had lined up by size on the table top.

Mike Stoker sensed a change in the feel of the station. He immediately pegged it when his glance towards the couch showed that Henry wasn't snoring there. "Hey fellas..Did anyone see Henry come back in from outside yet?"

Johnny Gage and Roy DeSoto came into the kitchen to see the guys rubbernecking around and searching for Henry. "What's up? Somebody drop one of those things?" he asked pointing to the ancient fossil teeth.

"We lost a dog part all right. Henry.." Lopez said.

"Oh, yeah?" Johnny said going for the coffee pot.

Roy leaned against the counter, sipping the cup his partner handed him without saying anything.

Cap wandered over to the kitchen window and cracked a blind. "He's still out there. Same as he was when we got that last call. He's a statue, still waiting for something."

Roy rubbed his chin. "I wonder what he's up to?"

"Oh, about a foot and a half.." Kelly quipped.

Johnny made a face at Chet FOR Roy.

"Kelly's too rich for me with all that scientific analysis and one liners. I'm gonna go take a shower.  
I can still smell tar in my hair. " Roy said and he left for the locker room.

"Make it quick.. It's almost dinner time. You know what happens then. " Marco groaned.

"Shhh, You'll jinx us.." Stoker hissed.

"Gee Stoker. Haven't you noticed? We've been jinxed with the mother of all crazy days. How can things get any worse?" Kelly said.

Hank just rubbed his face, knowing that Murphy's law was about to strike again.

Five minutes later over sautee-ing mushrooms and steak, the tones went off.

The gang gulped down their coffee, snatched a roll or two and jogged for the squad and engine while the address came over the speakers.

Johnny nearly choked on his when the house and street number were announced. "Cap... I don't believe this. That's Roy's house.."

"What?" Hank said. "You've got to kidding.. I thought Joanne and the kids were at her mother's."

"They are.." Johnny said, scrambling and slipping on the floor in his haste to take the driver's seat of the squad.  
Johnny's eyes shot to the locker room doorway where he knew Roy would be dashing through, still dripping.  
"What should we do?"

"Don't tell him.." Cap said as he slammed his engine door shut as he belted in.

"But he's gonna know when he sees I'm driving.."

Cap snapped. "Then I suggest you break it to him gently.. Let's move.." Hank said as he watched Roy run in front of the engine and squad heading for the driver's door. Roy skidded to a halt when he saw Johnny there already.  
He didn't understand the look on Gage's face as he piled into the passenger seat. He opened his mouth when Johnny said. "I'll explain it on the way. Just get in the squad.."  
The garage door began to open in front of them as Johnny peeled rubber out onto the street. He was silent as he headed left onto the avenue.

Roy asked. "Johnny? What's going on?" trying to sound unworried and casual.

Gage didn't answer and pretended to be concentrating on the road in front of them.

Roy's hand snaked out and snatched the piece of paper he knew would be in Johnny's pocket with the address of the call they were responding to. Gage tried to snatch it back and the squad almost swerved out of the lane and slowed to the point of making Mike hit the brakes a bit to avoid plowing into the squad's rear bumper.

Cap's voice burst over the private band, truck to truck. ##Front and center up there. Sharpen up. Minds on the job, guys.## he snapped.

Gage picked up the squad mic and apologetically replied, "Sorry, Stoker." and he hung it up again.

Roy's face was just radiating out of his shock when he realized that their call was to his own house.  
"A fire?! I don't get it? Nobody's home.."

"We'll know everything once we get there, Roy.  
Just stay calm." Johnny said, completely not that state himself.

"I think I should be asking that same question of you. " Roy said agitatedly about Johnny's driving. "I shoulda known something like this was up the second I saw your butt in the driver's seat."

"Lash at me all you like.. I don't care. This isn't gonna be fun. For any of us." Johnny whined.

He turned the corner that led to the side street that crossed Roy's street and soon, they all saw the problem.

The gang bailed out of the engine and rescue squad and Cap began to issue hose layout instructions and Stoker took the engine down the road to peel hose off the hose bed while Marco took a length to wrap around a hydrant to secure it for the pull.

"I don't believe it..That's a brand new roof."  
Roy agonized.

"Was at any rate." Chet remarked drolly as he began to release the hydrant valve with his wrench to screw on a hose connector.

Roy's mouth was still hanging open at the sight of his own house on fire when his eyes fell on the sight of a utilities van parked and open a couple of houses down the street. "Oh, no.. Don't tell me.  
The water company's here for a burst pipe."

A rippling curse erupted out of Chet when he finally got the hydrant cap off the hydrant and only its metal ping hit the pavement without the sound of gushing water. "Dry hydrant, Cap!"  
he shouted.

"What?!" said Johnny, Roy and Cap in triplicate.  
"Impossible!"

"Look at this and tell me it's impossible.." Chet said defensively.

Cap sighed in long suffering and got on his HT to the engine. "Stoker. Loop her back around.  
We gotta use the engine tanks. No water in the hydrants. Looks like the local utilities has them shut off. I'm also calling for immediate back up. Johnny, go in there with Lopez and start ventilating the second story."

"What? You're gonna start ripping out my ceilings?  
Cap, the fire's not that bad yet.." Roy complained.

"New roofing paper and shingles huh? Best kind of tinder.." Cap said. He returned to the engine cab and told L.A. exactly what they had and to turn off the power and the gas service to Roy's side of the street.

Roy turned his eyes back onto the sight of his house burning. "Oh, man.. When I find out how this got started.."

Vince Howard pulled up in the squad car and dragged out an errant nine year old boy that Roy recognized.

DeSoto hissed. "Butch, don't tell me. A tennis ball can launcher and lighter fluid.."

"What's that?" Cap asked.

"A thing the kids are doing nowdays. Homemade rockets which shoot tennis balls off from their cans like a cannon ball in a cannon." Roy said aiming a glare at the defiant neighborhood boy.

Vince nodded his head. "It's all over his clothes and the dispatcher said that it was this little guy who called it in. Probably because he thought it would get him off easy."

Roy sighed. "But how are we gonna get off easy?  
Meanwhile, my roof's burning through to the rest of the house."

"Take it easy, Roy. The other tanker station's only two minutes from here." Hank reassured his more than agitated paramedic.

"No.." DeSoto said, thinking of something else as he panicked.

"Yes.." Cap and Johnny reassured him. As yet,  
Marco and Johnny hadn't moved from the street.  
They were too worried about Roy.

"Wait!" Roy said, trying to come up with a solution to their burning roof with no water problem.

"What?" Cap and Johnny and Vince asked.

"There's a pond next door. Can we rig a water pump to it to extend the gallons we got?"  
Roy asked Cap.

"I don't know. Stoker knows what the engine can or can't do that way."

"How about a helicopter water drop?" Johnny asked seriously.

"In the city?!" Cap and Roy both exclaimed incredulously.

"I'm trying to help us out here!" Johnny said in defiance, removing his helmet and running fingers through his hair.

Roy said. "I know that.. I'm trying, too, but I'm freaking out so bad I can't think straight."

"Why did you think Cap had me drive?" Gage said.

"Hey, Gage. You insisted on driving. "Cap interjected.  
"Point fingers where the blame really is." he said with a half grin, the first since the crazy call went out.

Just then, a part of the roof caved in, dragging all of their attentions back to the urgent matter at hand.

"Cap..." Roy whined.

Cap lifted his HT. "Station 51 to Station 127. What's your ETA? Our fire may be burning through to the second story."

Roy quailed.  
"Oh, no.. The second story? That's all our bedrooms.  
All those toys! All those antiques we had in the attic!  
Gone!" Roy said, running fingers through his thinning hair.

"Don't worry, Roy.." Lopez said, jogging by with another hose stretched out to run to Truck 127 when she got there. "That's what homeowner's insurance is for."

"I don't wanna have to sue the fire department for negligence to cover all this.." Roy panicked again.

"You can sue the fire department?" Kelly asked.

"No.." Cap said.

"Yes." Stoker said.

"Wait!"

"What?!" said all of them.

"My house is still burning here.." Roy said.

"We know that.."

"Well, let's get cracking.." DeSoto snapped.

Roy started to go towards the house to begin the ventilating it when Cap stopped him. "You're sitting this one out. You're in no shape to handle any of this.."

"What do you mean I'm not in any shape to handle this?" DeSoto said, pulling free of Cap's grip on his jacket. "It's my house."

"Exactly.." Cap said. "Stay here.. Tell Truck 127 what's going on when they get here. Let's go you three. Looks like no SCBA's are needed yet." and he and Johnny and Marco dashed into the house to see what they could do with fire hooks and axes to slow the progress of the growing roof fire to keep it from getting into the walls.

Cap trusted Johnny to know the rooms and where the stairwell was to the upper floor.  
He and Marco followed Gage, taking the stairs two at a time to where the smoke was billowing through the ceiling. It had not yet broken through from the attic to the rooms below.

A thick curtain of smoke hung near the floor however and it brought a thought to Johnny's mind. "Oh, no. Cap. What kinda pets does Roy's kids have?"

"A cat. I think." Cap said.

"A cat?"

"Yeah." Marco replied.

"I don't know cats very well. What would they do in a fire?" Johnny asked.

"They'd hide.." Cap said. "Ours hides during thunderstorms."

"Smoke's real thick. Roy's kids'll be real upset if we let this roof fire kill him with smoke."  
Gage said with a pained expression.

"What do you expect me to do?" Cap said.  
"The house comes first."

"Cap, I can look for him.." Marco said.  
"You and Johnny can stay in here and see what you can pull down to slow the fire up there.."

"Sounds like a plan. Keep a lifeline on ya.." Cap said.

"What's his name?" Marco shouted over the noise Johnny was making as he pulled down a part of the ceiling that felt hot and ready to catch fire.

"What's who's name?" Cap asked.

"The cat's."

"Calico.."

"Calico, like the horse from the kid books?"

"Yeah.."

Marco set off through the knee deep smoke with his fire hook. "I'll tug if I need ya.." said Lopez, shouting behind him as he hurried down the hall. He left Johnny and Cap where they were and he set off to the first room at the end of the long passageway.

It was a girl's room. Marco felt the door there carefully before he opened it. He also swept a foot through the thick smoke hanging on the floor searching for a litter box to give him a hint where the cat might favor as a hiding place.

He didn't feel the door was anything other than room temp so Marco opened it. "Calico? Here boy. You in here?"

Lopez rushed into the room, tipping over the kid's desk and desk chair, and the kid's bed, looking for the cat. "Calico?"

He stumbled over a Barbie's Airplane Stewardess Playset. He kicked it aside. He ripped the curtains down to make more evening sunlight cast into the room. "Hey..Gato. It's time to leave.."

On a thought, Marco deemed it safe enough to open wide the bedroom window where he was, to provide a way out should Roy's kid's cat be still in the little girl's room he had found.

Marco turned around and went for a second door.  
Roy's master bedroom. Lopez couldn't help but smile when his attempt to flip the bed in his search revealed that the piece of furniture he held was actually a water bed. ::Joanne's wish no doubt.:: He only blinked once when he ripped the sheets and pillows off of it looking for Calico, when a silky fire engine red teddy drifted down from off his gloves.

Marco gulped in ultimate embarrassment and he stuttered. "C-Calico. Come on, kitty.. Get out here.  
Daddy's outside.."

Lopez again cracked a window open safely and left.

The last room on the right side was Chris's room. Marco again felt the door frame for heat and opened it carefully, hugging the wall.

He entered and immediately heard a rustling that couldn't be explained by anything else other than a burrowing cat. "Where are you?"  
Lopez said moving towards the sound.

The sound stopped and the smoke rose higher up Marco's legs. It wasn't yet hot enough for the smoke to rise to the ceiling.

Marco got on his HT. "HT 51 to Engine 51." he hailed, knowing that Cap would answer from down the hall.

##Go ahead.##

"Found him. He's in the third room on the right.  
The boy's room. Somewhere.."

##Johnny'll be right there. He's following your rope.##

Marco saw Gage appear almost instantly since the paramedic knew the layout of Roy's house very well. "Where is he? This smoke's getting kinda thick by this carpetting."

"Over here somewhere. Thought I heard some rustling.."

Both Gage and Lopez dug around the murky layer of smoke hanging above the floor and they tossed aside.. a base ball bat, a jumping ball, a tinker toy tower, and a toy fire engine that blasted its airhorn in their faces when it took to the air.

Johnny and Marco smirked at that one, then turned to the business at hand. "Calico?"

Their gloves swept the floor beneath where the pile of kid's toys had been and hit a body.  
"Found him." Gage said, lifting up the limp cat.

Marco and Johnny looked up at a knocking on their window. It was a man from Truck 127 on a ladder leading up to them.  
"And there's Calico's ticket outta this smoke."  
Lopez said, cradling the unconscious cat in his arms.

Johnny opened the bedroom window and handed Calico out to the masked fireman on the ladder.

"You two, ok in there? I saw the flying toys. Thought you might need a hand."  
said the man from County.

"We're fine. Take this cat. He belongs to one of our firefighter's kids."

"He breathing?"

"Don't know."

Johnny handed out the limp Calico to the ladder man and briefly saw him set his airmask over Calico's face before the billowing blue curtains shut.

Gage and Lopez reversed their direction and got out of the house, knowing that Cap was now coordinating what Engine 51 and Truck 127 could do with their two water supplies to combat the roof fire.

Cap decided things looked good. The fire had stayed in the attic.

Down on the street, Roy saw a familiar station wagon drive up. "Joanne! " he shouted and he left the curbside to softened the blow for her and the kids of seeing their house smoking and receiving two firehoses worth of water into the attic story.

Joanne and Roy's kids met in a tight knot of hugs as they caught up on events and soon his daughter piped up. "Daddy, did Calico get out?"

Roy honestly didn't know. And he kicked himself for not thinking of him sooner.

Right then, a ladder man from Truck 127 walked up and said, "I believe he belongs to you, little miss.." he said with a grin.

"Calico..." Roy's daughter sobbed and she gathered up the smoky, now awake cat into her arms and started crying.

Roy's paternal and paramedic instincts both kicked in. "There. Looks like he's all right.  
Why don't you let daddy check him out.  
Looks like Uncle Johnny's already got some 02 and a plastic sheet already set out for him.." Roy said to his relieved family to calm them down even more.

He helped his daughter carry Calico over to the squad for his smoke inhalation treatment.

Cap nodded with satisfaction as he watched Johnny examine and give Calico some 02 to help him recover faster from his near suffocation.  
He tapped Roy on the shoulder.  
"Looks good.."

"No, it still looks bad.." Roy grinned about the house.

Cap grinned, too. "The fire's completely out. We're just moving in some ppv's to clear out the smoke in there. The stuff never got downstairs at all so there's very light smoke damage. And only the attic rafters and the roof burned. We were lucky this time.."

"Yeah. I guess so. I had those attic timbers treated last fall with fire retardant."

"Good thing.." Cap nodded. "Take your time here. I called us out with Station 127 until the cleanup's complete. And I made sure those hose guys are keeping the water damage to a minimum.."

"Appreciate it, Cap."

"No problem.. Do you need a place for you,  
Joanne and the kids to stay tonight? I've heard Johnny's place is a little too small."

"Nah, I think I'll take em to a hotel.  
A Howard Johnson's with a swimming pool.  
We might as well turn this whole thing into a mini vacation."

"Sounds like a plan." Cap said. "Your cat ok?"

"Yeah, Johnny's just ventilating him a bit before Joanne takes him to the vet's for a checkup."

"ok, pal. Sorry this crazy day had to turn out like this, but if your roof had to catch fire, this is the best outcome. I'll be right back for your scene info on what you know of this Butch kid and his fondness for incendiaries."

Roy's face fell into annoyance and anger for only two seconds before the sight of his daughter and Chris hugging Calico wiped it away.

---------------------------------------------------------

All the guys, including Roy had just cleaned up in the bathrooms when Chet noticed something drifting in the air behind him while he teased his curly hair into shape with his pick. It was a white feather of all things.

"What th-?" he exclaimed. "Hey guys, get in here.  
Either we got another pigeon in the roof top ventilation fan or somebody here's suddenly moulting flight feathers.."

Cap and the gang came, half dressed from the locker room into the bathroom. Chet pointed to yet another feather drifting down into the still night air. All of their jaws slacked open and they all began to follow the trail of fallen feathers slowly.

The trail ended up in the bunkroom.

"Oh, no..." Kelly exclaimed. "Not again!  
Where am I gonna sleep tonight...?" he asked.

The gang cracked up when they saw a sleeping exhausted pile of three very familiar dogs amid shredded sheets, blankets and a pillow lying on Chet's bunk, haphazardly.

"Bonnie? Boot?" Cap asked. "What are they doing here?"

Johnny cracked up. "Well now we know what Ol Henry was up to earlier this afternoon. Looks like he wanted a slumber party or something and all that baying was just invitation.. Our little mystery is solved."

The gang tiptoed out to let Henry and his friends nap in peace. They could swear all three were grinning.

Roy said, "Come on, Chet. Let's go grab some coffee."

"Hang on, hang on. Guys, we still got a little problem here. Where am I gonna sleep tonight?"

Gage said. "I dunno. How about you taking over.  
Henry's place.."

The gang cracked up as they left Chet to frown over the three snoozing, liberally feathered dogs.

"What a crazy day.." Kelly mumbled, but finally he began to chuckle. "Henry, I know how you feel. I could have been tarred...and feathered today if you had not waited an hour or two. Oh, well.  
See you guys in the morning.."

He quietly shut off the bunkroom main light as he left.

Chet Kelly shuffled off to the kitchen, kicking through the fallen layer of soft white feathers like a kid through autumn leaves.

FIN

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